Herricks v. Mutual Life Insurance Co. of New York

318 So. 2d 683, 294 Ala. 446, 1975 Ala. LEXIS 1224
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedAugust 21, 1975
DocketSC 1157
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 318 So. 2d 683 (Herricks v. Mutual Life Insurance Co. of New York) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Herricks v. Mutual Life Insurance Co. of New York, 318 So. 2d 683, 294 Ala. 446, 1975 Ala. LEXIS 1224 (Ala. 1975).

Opinions

MERRILL, Justice.

Patricia M. Herricks brought suit to recover the proceeds of a life insurance policy on her deceased husband, Douglas C. Herricks, Jr. She appeals from a summary judgment rendered in favor of the defendant, The Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York (MONY).

Herricks had worked in insurance business many years. According to plaintiff’s deposition, her husband once worked for MONY but the father of his then wife “started an insurance company and offered Doug a job.”

Herricks applied for the policy in 1969 and its effective date was July 11, 1969. Renewal premiums were payable on each anniversary date. The policy lapsed twice, in July, 1971 and July, 1972.

The policy contained the following REINSTATEMENT” clause:

“If any premium is not paid by the end of the grace period, and if this Policy has not been surrendered for cash, it may be reinstated at any time within 5 years after the due date of the premium first in default upon (1) evidence satisfactory to the Company of the Insured’s insurability and (2) payment of all overdue premiums and payment or reinstatement of any indebtedness to the Company, together with payment of a compound interest on such premiums and indebtedness at 5% per year.” (Emphasis added.)

On each occasion, there was no premium payment within the 30-day grace period, and it was necessary for Herricks to execute an application for reinstatement. These applications were executed on October 16, 1971 and September 23, 1972. Her-ricks died on August 9, 1973, as a result of a hepatic coma brought on by cirrhosis of the liver. MONY subsequently rescinded the policy, Tit. 28, § 6, Code 1940, because of alleged misrepresentations made by Herricks in the applications for reinstatement.

Question No. 6 in the two applications for reinstatement appeared as follows:

“6. Are you, so far as you know:
a) In impaired physical or mental health ?
b) Under any kind of medication or on any diet?”

Herricks responded “No” to both parts of the question on both, applications for reinstatement. It is undisputed that the answers on both applications for reinstatement were in Herricks’ handwriting and that he prepared them and delivered or mailed them to MONY’s agent.

Dr. Robert L. Whitten, however, testified in his deposition that he observed Mr. Herricks on October 1, 1971, that Herricks was suffering from cirrhosis of the liver, that he placed Herricks on a strict diet, and that he informed him that he, Her-[448]*448ricks, had a serious illness which could be fatal and he should “never, ever take another drink as long as he lived.”

Summary judgment is properly granted if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. ARCP 56(c).

Plaintiff contends that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether MONY had such knowledge of Herricks’ alcoholism as to prevent it from relying on Herricks’ misrepresentations as a defense; and that the credibility of MONY’s agent, Richard S. Bullock, Sr., who handled the original application and the two applications for reinstatement, is put in issue by the plaintiff’s counter-affidavit of Clarence E. Bishop, Jr.

Bullock’s affidavit, filed August 15, 1974, reads in part as follows:

“ * * * At the time Mr. Herricks executed each of these applications for reinstatement he denied any ‘illness, disease or injury’ within the five years preceding the date of the respective applications. He also denied, in each application for reinstatement, any consultation, examination or treatment by any physician; and he denied any impairment to his physical or mental health, and denied that he was under any medication or on any diet on each occasion.
“At the times that Mr. Herricks, Jr., executed each of the applications for reinstatement I was unaware that he was an alcoholic; I was unaware that he was being treated for his alcoholism in October 1971; and I was unaware that he had cirrhosis of the liver at the time he executed either of the applications for reinstatement. Douglas C. Herricks, Jr. who was personally known to me, never told me of his problem with alcoholism; he never told me of his liver condition; and I knew of neither of these conditions at the times Mr. Herricks executed the applications for reinstatement. I have made inquiry of the employees of this office and have been assured that no person was familiar with Mr. Herricks’ alcoholism, either at the time he executed the application for coverage originally in 1969, or at the times he executed the applications for reinstatement in 1971 and 1972. Moreover, none of the employees of this office and no representative of MONY to my knowledge was aware that Mr. Herricks was suffering from cirrhosis of the liver prior to' his death.”

Bishop’s counter-affidavit stated that he became acquainted with Herricks in 1956. They were both in the insurance business. Bishop worked for Protective Life Insurance Company. Bishop later (in 1965 and 1966) employed Herricks for a time and sent him to Indiana. All of this time, Herricks “continued his drinking.” The only statement in Bishop’s affidavit that forms a basis for plaintiff’s argument that Bullock, MONY’s agent, knew that Her-ricks was an alcoholic is paragraph 7, which reads:

“Based upon my years of experience in the life insurance business, it is my opinion that all persons engaged in selling life insurance who were acquainted with Douglas C. Herricks, Jr., were aware of and knew of his problem with alcohol and the affect that it had upon his insurability.”

That statement does not name Bullock, shows no circumstances under which Bullock had opportunity to learn of Her-ricks’ “problem with alcohol” and, without more, it would not be admissible in evidence, and is far too general to raise a genuine issue of material fact as to knowledge on the part of Bullock or to his credibility.

We need not, however, reach either of plaintiff’s contentions. Even assuming that Bullock knew that Herricks was an alcoholic, and that he had cirrhosis of the [449]*449liver, MONY was nevertheless entitled to the summary judgment.

The rule in this state is that ordinarily, knowledge by the local agent authorized to solicit insurance, take and forward applications, and collect premiums, of misrepresentations by the applicant, is not available as a waiver of such breach in the face of a stipulation to the contrary in the policy. First Nat. Life Ins. Co. of America v. Rector, 225 Ala. 116, 142 So. 392; North Carolina Mutual Life Ins. v. Kerley, 215 Ala. 100, 109 So. 755; Jones v. Liberty Nat. Life Ins. Co., 35 Ala.App. 52, 47 So.2d 222, affirmed 254 Ala. 111, 47 So.2d 227.

The evidence established that Bullock was only a soliciting field underwriter. MONY could not be charged with facts known to such an agent but not contained in the original written application or application for reinstatement and, as a result, could not be held to have waived the misrepresentations of Herricks.

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Bluebook (online)
318 So. 2d 683, 294 Ala. 446, 1975 Ala. LEXIS 1224, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/herricks-v-mutual-life-insurance-co-of-new-york-ala-1975.