Catholic Order of Foresters v. Collins

99 N.E. 745, 51 Ind. App. 285, 1912 Ind. App. LEXIS 112
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 30, 1912
DocketNo. 7,727
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 99 N.E. 745 (Catholic Order of Foresters v. Collins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Catholic Order of Foresters v. Collins, 99 N.E. 745, 51 Ind. App. 285, 1912 Ind. App. LEXIS 112 (Ind. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinion

Hottel, C. J.

— This is a suit by appellee, the sole beneficiary of an insurance certificate issued by appellant to James Edward Collins, husband of appellee, to recover on such certificate. This is a second appeal, a former judgment in appellant’s favor having been reversed by this court on account of the error of the lower court in giving a peremptory instruction in appellant’s favor. Collins v. Catholic Order of Foresters (1909), 43 Ind. App. 549, 551, 88 N. E. 87. A trial by jury resulted in a verdict for appellee, with which were returned answers to interrogatories. Motions by appellant for judgment on the answers to interrogatories and for a new trial were overruled, and exceptions to each ruling saved by appellant, after which judgment was rendered on the verdict for appellee. The rulings on said motions present the errors on which appellee relies. As no question is presented on the pleadings, we need only set out enough of their substance to present the questions which are relied on for reversal.

The complaint is the usual complaint in such cases, and avers that on December 3, 1903, decedent, James E. Collins, signed a written application for membership in said order, his acceptance by the order, his initiation as a member of St. Joseph Court No. 1109, the issuing by the order on December 23, 1903, of the benefit certificate in suit for $1,000, with appellee as its beneficiary. The application for membership, together with the medical examiner’s certificate thereon and the written approval of J. P. Smyth, M. D., high medical examiner of said order, and the certificate of insurance, are made part of the complaint.

It is further averred that the certificate was not. delivered to Collins, but was delivered to the St. Joseph Court, and kept by it; that Collins died April 6, 1904; that at the time of his death, decedent was a member in good standing in [289]*289said order; that plaintiff demanded said certificate, and defendant refused to deliver it; that plaintiff made proof of death, and that she and her deceased husband performed all the conditions of said policy on their part to be performed, and that she demanded payment of the sum due on said policy, which was refused by defendant. Defendant answered by the general denial and by a special answer setting up a misrepresentation of the facts in procuring the issuing of the certificate sued on and a breach of the warranties therein contained. The questions and answers of the insured relied on and pleaded in the special answer are of those contained in that part of the “Application for Membership” designated “Applicant’s Certificate”, and are a part of the medical examination and are as follows:

(1) “Q. Have you ever had any severe illness or injury, dr under gone any surgical operation ? A. First finger index right hand. (2) Q. State when, give particulars, and name of your attending physician? A. Have not been sick since childhood. Diseases of childhood. (3) Q. Have you fully recovered? A. Yes. (4) Q. Have you had any of the following complaints, diseases or symptoms? Any disease of the lungs? A. No. (5) Q. Spitting or raising blood? A. No. (6) Q. Any disease of the bowels? A. No. (7) Q. Habitual cough? A. No. (8) Q. La Grippe? A. No. (9) Q. When and for what has medical advice been sought within the last three years ? A. Nothing. (10) Q. Is there anything to your knowledge or belief, in physical condition, family or personal history, or habits, tending to shorten your life, which is not distinctly set forth in this application? A. No.” The answer avers, in substance, thát relying on the truth of these answers the insured was accepted by the order, and the certificate of insurance issued; that by the terms of the contract the insured expressly warranted said answers to be true, that they were, in fact, false, etc.

Judging from the court’s statement of the facts of the for[290]*290mer appeal, the case comes to us on the same pleadings and issues, except that an amendment of the special answer, probably suggested by the opinion in that case, has been made showing the amount of the fees, dues and assessments received by appellant on the contract, a tender of the same by appellant to appellee, and a refusal by appellee to accept the same or any part thereof.

1. The former decision of this case by this court is the law of the case in so far as it applies to the facts now pleaded on the evidence introduced thereunder, where the question remains the same as that decided on the original appeal. City of Logansport v. Humphrey (1886), 106 Ind. 146, 6 N. E. 337; Keller v. Gaskill (1898), 20 Ind. App. 502, 50 N. E. 363; Brunson v. Henry (1898), 152 Ind. 310, 52 N. E. 407; Fort Wayne Iron, etc., Co. v. Parsell (1912), 49 Ind. App. 565, 94 N. E. 770; Indiana Union Traction Co. v. Pring (1912), 50 Ind. App. 566, 96 N. E. 180.

The certificate sued on promises and binds appellant to pay appellee the sum of $1,000, subject to certain “express stipulations and conditions” therein set forth, which are, by the express terms of such certificate, made part thereof. The conditions and stipulations, controlling the questions here presented, are as follows: “ (1) The statements made by said member in the proposition blank signed by him at the time of his proposal as a member of said Catholic Order of Foresters are- hereby acknowledged and declared by him to be warranties and to be made a part of this contract. (2) The representations and agreements made and subscribed by him in the application and medical examiner’s blanks and the answers given and certified by him to the medical examiner are hereby acknowledged and declared by him to be warranties and to be made a part of this contract. ’ ’

Again, in that part of the application for membership [291]*291designated “Applicant’s Certificate”, and following the answers made in the medical examination, the insured certifies as follows: “I do hereby certify and declare that the answers given by me to the above questions are each and all true in fact, and I do hereby warrant said answers and each one of them to be true in fact, and I do hereby agree that, should any answer so made by me be untrue, that then, and in such case, I do hereby forfeit the rights of myself and my beneficiary or beneficiaries and of any and all other persons whomsoever to any and all benefits and privileges of the Order including all claims and demands by virtue of any benefit certificate, that may have been issued to me by said Order, including all moneys paid by me to said Order for any purpose whatsoever. James Edward Collins.”

In the application for membership, following the statements of the insured himself, he made a like statement, with additional language as follows: “Or should any concealment of facts be made by me in this application. * * * I do hereby forfeit,” etc.

The controlling question presented by the errors relied on by appellant in the court’s ruling on each of said motions is, in effect, the same, the question being presented in the first motion by the facts found by the jury in its answers to interrogatories, and in the second motion by the facts disclosed by the evidence. We will, therefore, in discussing the ruling on the first motion indicate the legal principles which we think controlling in the case. These principles are:

2.

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Bluebook (online)
99 N.E. 745, 51 Ind. App. 285, 1912 Ind. App. LEXIS 112, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/catholic-order-of-foresters-v-collins-indctapp-1912.