Germania Life Insurance v. Klein

25 Colo. App. 326
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 15, 1913
DocketNo. 3815
StatusPublished

This text of 25 Colo. App. 326 (Germania Life Insurance v. Klein) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Germania Life Insurance v. Klein, 25 Colo. App. 326 (Colo. Ct. App. 1913).

Opinion

King, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

This was an action, brought to recover on a life insurance policy, in which the verdict and judgment were for the plaintiff.

On the 22nd day- of September, 1905, Pauline Klein made written application to The Germania Life Insurance Company of New York for $1,500 insurance on her life. Among other things, she stated that she was fifty years of age at her nearest birthday; a resident of the city of Pueblo, Colorado; had not had any of the diseases inquired of in the medical examination; had never [328]*328consulted a physician; had never removed to benefit her health, and did not contemplate a change of residence.

The application was accepted and policy issued at the home office in New York under date of October 19, 1905, and policy delivered to the insured at Pueblo about the last of October. Immediately thereafter she returned to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,, whence she had come during the previous June, and at which place she died on January 10, 1906. Death was caused by carcinoma of the gall bladder.

The defense to the action on the policy was, in substance, that insured had understated her age by thirteen years; that she had secured the insurance by false representations of facts material to the risk; that the,statements and representations made in her application were warranties, and that there was a breach of such warranties.

The policy states that “The Germania Life Insurance Company of the City of New York in consideration of the representations made in the application for this policy, which application is hereby made the basis of, and a part of, this contract, and of the payment * * * does hereby promise and agree,” etc. By this provision of the policy, it is plain that the application as a whole is made the- basis of and a part of the contract. What -constitutes the application is declared and agreed upon as follows:

“It is hereby declared and agreed that all the statements- and - representations contained in the foregoing -application hnd those contained in the declarations made ’ to the Medical Examiner, which, together with this Declaration of; Agreement, constitute an application to The ' Germania Life Insurance Company of New York for an • insurance upon the life of the undersigned Pauline Klein in the amount of fifteen hundred dollars, are offered to [329]*329the said Company as a consideration of the contract applied for; each of which statements and answers, whether written by his or her own hand or not, every person-whose name is hereto subscribed adopts as his or her own, admits to be material, and warrants to be full, com-píete and true, and to be the only statements given to the Company in reply to its inquiries, and upon which, should the insurance applied for be granted, the Com-. pany’s contract will be founded.”

The application proper, including this declaration and agreement, and also the answers made to the questions asked by the medical examiner, were subscribed by Pauline Klein, so that by the express terms of both the policy and the application, all these statements, representations and declarations, by whatever name they may be called, became a part of the contract of insurance, and the basis upon which the policy was issued.

The evidence .conclusively showed, and the jury found, that at the time of- making the application, insured was sixty-three years of age at her nearest birth-' day, instead of fifty years of - age as stated in her application, and for that reason the verdict was returned and judgment rendered for $898.42, the amount of insurance which the premium actually paid would have purchased at the age of sixty-three years.

The evidence as conclusively showed that for at least four years before she made her application, the insured had been consulting a physician for some ailment or disease, and that from about April 4,, 1904, to the time of her death, with the exception of the few months she resided or visited in Colorado, she had been treated for carcinoma of the liver. Dr. C. H. Lefcowitch, a practicing physician of Philadelphia, a graduate of Jefferson Medical College of that city, and for some years assistant surgeon to the Philadelphia Polyclinic Hospital, testified that he was physician for said Pauline Klein from .Sep[330]*330tember 12, 1901, to November 26, 1905; tbat prior to April 4, 1904, be bad treated ber at various times for gastro-intestinal derangement, and from said April 4tb for carcinoma of tbe liver, and bad been consulted by ber just previous to ber departure for Colorado; tbat upon return of tbe insured to Philadelphia be treated ber from November 21st to November 26th, inclusive, for the same disease. Prom about December 1,1905, to tbe time of ber death slie was attended by Dr. Fussell, assistant professor of medicine at tbe University of Pennsylvania, chief of tbe medical dispensary of and lecturer on diseases of tbe liver at tbat institution, and also physician to some, hospitals in tbat city, a practicing physician of twenty-two years’ experience. Tbe disease was diagnosed by him as carcinoma of tbe liver, and so treated. However, an autopsy performed by him and bis associates disclosed tbat tbe carcinoma was of tbe gall bladder, with secondary deposits or infiltration into tbe liver and duodenum; that tbe gall bladder was entirely, destroyed, and tbat death ensued from carcinoma of tbat organ, instead of tbe liver; tbat what during life bad been regarded as a malignant tumor of tbe liver was a prolapsed and prolonged lobe of tbat organ, projecting into tbe abdomen below tbe ribs," but it was not carcinomatous, at least until of a recent date, and not tbe cause of ber death. Tbe testimony of both Dr. Lefcowitch and Dr. Fussell was by deposition, and for tbat reason tbe verdict of tbe jury is not conclusive on this court as to tbe veracity of those two witnesses, even though it be conceded tbat the opinion of either of them as to tbe time tbe fatal disease originated conflicts with other opinion evidence.

Tbe testimony of Dr. Lefcowitcb tbat be bad been consulted by and bad treated tbe insured at various times for several years, and tbat for' at least a year prior to tbe time ber application for insurance was made bad re[331]*331garded and treated the disease as chronic carcinoma, is neither disputed by any other witness nor in any substantial respect discredited in the slightest degree. His veracity is in no degree impeached by the slight inaccuracy of his diagnosis. The fact of consultation was conclusively established, and the jury should have been so instructed.

Under this condition of. the contract of insurance and of the evidence, the court instructed the jury that under the provisions of the policy the statements of Pauline Klein contained in the application, and her declarations to the medical examiner, were not warranties, but representations only, and, if false, would not affect the validity of the policy unless they related to statements material to the risk and were fraudulently made with intention to deceive; and unless they found that such false statement had been made with such intention to deceive, the verdict should be for the plaintiff; and also instructed the jury that, even though the statement that she had consulted no physician was false, the policy ■would not thereby be avoided, unless the jury further found that in making such statement she had not made the answer in good faith.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
25 Colo. App. 326, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/germania-life-insurance-v-klein-coloctapp-1913.