Green v. Beneficial Standard Life Insurance

383 P.2d 770, 235 Or. 282, 1963 Ore. LEXIS 470
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 15, 1963
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 383 P.2d 770 (Green v. Beneficial Standard Life Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Green v. Beneficial Standard Life Insurance, 383 P.2d 770, 235 Or. 282, 1963 Ore. LEXIS 470 (Or. 1963).

Opinion

ROSSMAN, J.

This is an appeal by the defendant, Beneficial Standard Life Insurance Company, from a judgment which the circuit court entered in favor of the plaintiff, Katherine Jean Green, widow of the deceased insured James Lee Green. The widow was the beneficiary of a life insurance policy that the defendant issued to the deceased October 19, 1959. The judgment is based upon a verdict. The action out of which the challenged judgment arose sought recovery upon the policy of insurance which we just mentioned. The insured died October 29, 1960. The policy had a term of 30 years and provided that upon the insured’s death the company would pay the beneficiary the sum of $110 per month for a prescribed period or, in lieu of that form of payment, would pay the beneficiary “the commuted value of the policy” as determined upon the day of payment. In this instance the amount was $27,346. The challenged judgment granted recovery in the sums of $27,346 and an attorney fee.

When the policy was issued, the insured paid a quarterly premium of $27.30. It is agreed that the policy went into effect October 19, 1959, and that it continued in effect until January 19, 1960. It granted a 31 day period of grace. The plaintiff claims that the policy was in effect at the time of her husband’s death on October 29, 1960. The defendant alleges that [284]*284at the time of the death the policy had lapsed for nonpayment of premiums. The defendant also charged that in his application for the policy the insured had answered falsely a question which inquired whether he intended “to make any aerial flights other than as a passenger on commercial airlines.” That defense is based upon the fact that the policy went into effect on October 19, 1959, and October 24 of the same year the insured purchased for his own operation an airplane.

The defendant (appellant) presents three assignments of error. The first challenges the ruling of the circuit court which denied the defendant’s motion for an involuntary nonsuit. The second and third are based in part upon instructions that were given and upon others requested by the defendant that were refused.

The policy contained this provision:

“REINSTATEMENT — If default be made in premium payments, this Policy may be reinstated at any time during the income protection period and within five years from date of default provided the Insured shall furnish evidence of insurability satisfactory to the Company, and pay all overdue premiums with interest thereon at 5 per cent per annum compounded annually from date of default. Any reinstatement of this Policy shall not have the effect of extending the income protection period for which this policy was issued.”

We will now determine the contentions that underlie the first assignment of error, that is, whether the policy was in effect October 29, 1960, when James Lee Green, the insured, died.

January 19, 1960, a premium of $27.30 became due upon the policy. It was not paid. The complaint con[285]*285cedes that the policy “lapsed for nonpayment of premium on January 19,1960,” hut alleges that the policy “was thereafter, to wit, on or about August 11, 1960, reinstated by the defendant.”

March 9, 1960, the defendant mailed to the insured a letter stating that his policy had lapsed; the letter was accompanied with a printed form dated March 9, 1960, entitled “Application for Reinstatement” that the insured could use in applying for reinstatement. The insured did not reply to the letter and did not use the application form. In the early part of August 1960 the insured obtained from the defendant’s local agent the copy of the Application for Reinstatement dated March 9, 1960, which the agent had received when the original was sent to the insured. August 11, 1960, the insured sent that application to the defendant together with his check in the sum of $27.37. The only entries material to this appeal that were upon the application for reinstatement were (1) the title of the paper “Application for Reinstatement,” and (2) these words: “If Box 2, 3, or 4 has been cheeked, the valuable protection you previously had may be restored by * * The term “Box 2, 3, or 4” referred to entries immediately ahead of those words which included the following:

“2. Lapsed.
“3. Cancelled * * *.
“4. Placed on extended term insurance for * * # ??

Opposite the word “Lapsed” was a check mark. Continuing, the part of the application which is material to reinstatement reads:

“a. Completing the Application for Reinstatement on the reverse side of this letter and returning it to us with
[286]*286“b. A minimum payment of $27.37 for 3 months. No interest will be charged if this application is made within 15 days of the date of this notice. ”

Since the notice (Application for Reinstatement) was dated March 9, 1960, but was not used until about August 11, 1960, and the sum of $27.37 was not remitted to the defendant until that time, the privileges expressed in subparagraph “b” had expired. The insured made the entries upon the reverse side of the application that were requested, but they have no bearing upon this appeal and we mention them no further. The Application for Reinstatement was not accompanied by a letter or other communication, and hence the defendant, upon its receipt, knew only that Green was applying for the reinstatement of his lapsed policy and was tendering $27.37.

August 12, 1960, the defendant wrote a letter to the insured reading:

“It is a pleasure to write that your policy has been approved for reinstatement on the basis of your representations in your application.
“Your payment of $27.37 has been credited and your policy is paid to September 19, 1960.
“Thank you for your cooperation and the opportunity of being again of service to you.”

The insured made no reply to that letter and in no way indicated disapproval or non-acquiescence in the letter’s statement that “your policy is paid to September 19, 1960.”

Upon the check stub to which there had been attached the check for $27.37 which the insured mailed to the defendant he had written “to 11-2-60” which possibly indicates that when writing the check he in[287]*287ferred that the policy’s extension would be to November 2, 1960. However, the defendant never saw the check stub and the insured had not stated to anyone that he assumed the policy would be extended to November 2, 1960. The application for reinstatement did not specify the term of reinstatement which the insured expected to receive. It is apparent that upon receipt of the defendant’s letter of August 12 stating that the premium that he had sent to the defendant would reinstate his policy only to September 19, 1960, he realized that in the defendant’s estimation he was insured only to September 19, 1960.

The question now occurs: are we forced to conclude that the remittance of $27.37 extended the policy three months, that is, to November 11, 1960, or is the appropriate decision that the payment extended the policy only to September 19,1960, as stated in the defendant’s letter from which we quoted.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
383 P.2d 770, 235 Or. 282, 1963 Ore. LEXIS 470, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/green-v-beneficial-standard-life-insurance-or-1963.