Custer v. Lincoln Nat. Life Ins.

141 F.2d 144, 1944 U.S. App. LEXIS 3614
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedFebruary 15, 1944
DocketNo. 8394
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 141 F.2d 144 (Custer v. Lincoln Nat. Life Ins.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Custer v. Lincoln Nat. Life Ins., 141 F.2d 144, 1944 U.S. App. LEXIS 3614 (7th Cir. 1944).

Opinion

EVANS, Circuit Judge.

This action was brought to recover a money judgment on an insurance policy which provided for a double indemnity in case the insured met his death “through * * * accidental means.”

The District Court found for the plaintiff and judgment was entered accordingly.

The controversy is over the effect of a provision in the contract covering death by accident, which absolved the defendant from all liability “if death resulted from homicide, intentional or unintentional.”

The Facts. The insured, a Chicago street car motorman, was shot and killed by one who boarded his car and attempted a hold-up. At the time of his death he held a contract of insurance with the defendant, upon which the premiums had been fully paid. It is not denied but that his death resulted from homicide and defendant was not liable under the double indemnity contract save for plaintiff’s contention that the provision which avoided liability in case of death by homicide was printed in a type smaller than the rest of the policy and came within the condemnation of an Illinois statute.

Sections 2(6) and 12, Act of 1915, page 472, read as follows:

“Sec. 2. No such policy shall be so issued or delivered * * * (6) unless the exceptions of the policy be pointed with the same prominence as the benefits to which they apply: Provided, however, that any portion of such policy which purports, by reason of the circumstances under which a loss is incurred, to reduce any indemnity promised therein to an amount less than that provided for the same loss occurring under ordinary circumstances, shall be printed in bold face type and with greater prominence than any other portion of the text of the policy.”

“Sec. 12 (2) Nothing in this Act shall apply to or in any way affect contracts supplemental to contracts of life or endowment insurance where such supplemental contracts contain no provisions except such as operate to safeguard such insurance against lapse or to provide a special surrender value therefor in the event that the insured shall be totally and permanently disabled by reason of accidental bodily injury or by sickness: Provided, that no such supplemental contract shall be issued or delivered to any person in this State unless and until a copy of the form thereof has been submitted to and approved by the Insurance Superintendent, under such reasonable rules and regulations as he shall make concerning the provisions in such contracts and their submission to and approval by him.”

The title of the Act is, “An Act concerning and to regulate policies issued by-companies, corporations, associations, societies or other insurers, doing accident and casualty insurance * * and concerns policies “of insurance against loss or damage from the sickness, or from the bodily injury or death of the insured by accident * *

The question before us is a strictly legal one, namely, the applicability of this statute. Defendant contends for its non-applicability on the ground that its policy was life insurance and not an accident insurance. On the other hand, plaintiff' argues that the policy here in suit was a policy of accident insurance. The Illinois, courts have held this statute to be non-applicable to life insurance contracts. Julius v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 299 Ill. 343, 132 N.E. 435, 17 A.L.R. 956.

Turning to the physical exhibits (the insurance contracts), we are at once impressed by the fact that there were two policies issued at the same time by defendant. At least there were two physical documents by it executed and delivered to. the insured. One is by it called its Principal Contract. The other, the one here in [146]*146suit, is called a Supplemental Contract. Defendant more specifically describes what we have termed its Principal Contract as a “Five Star Endowment Annuity, Preferred Risk Policy.” The annual premium payment for this policy was $120.36. It was signed and executed by defendant’s President and by its Secretary.

On the same date and attached to the Principal Contract was a Supplemental Contract. It was also signed by the President and by the Secretary. It also called for a separate annual consideration or premium, which was $4.50. Its vitality was dependent upon the prompt annual payment of the premium called for therein at the time therein specified. The coverage of the Supplemental Contract was limited to death from an accidental cause. There were no health or disability clauses therein.

Because of their importance, the more important provisions of the Supplemental Contract are set forth in the margin.

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Related

Shelton v. Equitable Life Assurance Society of United States
171 N.E.2d 787 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1961)

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Bluebook (online)
141 F.2d 144, 1944 U.S. App. LEXIS 3614, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/custer-v-lincoln-nat-life-ins-ca7-1944.