Illinois Bankers' Life Assur. Co. v. Garrison

48 S.W.2d 742, 1932 Tex. App. LEXIS 359
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 6, 1932
DocketNo. 3781.
StatusPublished

This text of 48 S.W.2d 742 (Illinois Bankers' Life Assur. Co. v. Garrison) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Illinois Bankers' Life Assur. Co. v. Garrison, 48 S.W.2d 742, 1932 Tex. App. LEXIS 359 (Tex. Ct. App. 1932).

Opinion

JACKSON, J.

The plaintiff, Harry J. Garrison, instituted this suit in the district court of AVheeler county, Tex., against the defendant, the Illinois Bankers’ Life Assurance Company, to recover damages in the sum of $5,000 for the cancellation of certain insurance certificates held by him in the defendant company.

The plaintiff alleged:

That about April 12, 1913, the Illinois Bankers’ Life Association issued to the plaintiff two certificates of membership, by the terms of which, in consideration of certain warranties and the initial payment, plaintiff was admitted to membership in said association. That each of said certificates provided that, in the event of the death of plaintiff during the continuance of such membership, his beneficiary, Mary F. Garrison, should receive the sum of $2,000. That each of said certificates stipulated that premium payments should be made periodically to keep the certificate in full force and1 effect, under penalty of forfeiture, and that, if plaintiff became permanently and totally disabled, one-half of each certificate should be paid at the time of such permanent and total disability and the remainder at his death.

That the Illinois Bankers’ Life Association, which issued to plaintiff his certificates, was thereafter reorganized and incorporated, under the name of Illinois Bankers’ Life Assurance Company, which, as the successor, assumed the liabilities of the Illinois Bankers’ Life Association, including the obliga *743 tion to continue the membership of this plaintiff and to pay to his beneficiary the money evidenced by said certificates, according to the terms thereof, to the same extent as was the Illinois Bankers’ Life Association. That, in pursuance to the provisions of the certificates, the plaintiff paid all the calls for premiums made by the Illinois Bankers’ Life Association and the Illinois Bankers’ Life Assurance Company, in compliance with the constitution and by-laws. That he paid quarterly, beginning with June, 1913, the sum of $6.15 on each of said certificates until June 1, 1921. That on said date the quarterly assessment was reduced to $6.55, on each certificate, after which time he paid quarterly on each the sum of $6.55 up to and including October, 1930, and that all of such payments were received and appropriated by the defendant and its predecessor.

That on about November 15, 1930, the defendant notified the plaintiff that his certificates of membership .had been canceled and were no longer in force and effect. That afterward he was advised by the defendant to submit to a physical examination for reinstatement as a member and for the reinstatement of his certificates of insurance, and submitted himself to the defendant’s physician, who, after giving him .a physical examination, reported his condition to the defendant, but the nature of the report is ■ unknown to plaintiff. That, after receiving said report, the defendant refused to reinstate the plaintiff, and notified him that the cancellation of ■ his • membership certificates was effective and final, and that he would not be reinstated.

He alleges that the cancellation of his certificates was unwarranted and wrongful, by which he was damaged in the sum of $5,000; that, if it should be held that the cancellation of his certificates was not wrongful, then he was entitled to reinstatement under the constitution and by-laws and the laws of the state of Texas, and defendant’s refusal to reinstate plaintiff was wrongful, by which he was damaged in the sum of $5,000. He prayed upon a hearing for judgment for his damages in the sum of $5,000, with interest, for the wrongful cancellation of his certificates of insurance, or, in the alternative, for the wrongful refusal to reinstate the plaintiff as a member of the organization and for such other and further relief, general and special, to which he was justly entitled in law or in equity.

The defendant answered by general demurrer and general denial, and specially alleged that, under the certificates sued on and the terms of the by-laws of the company, it was the plaintiff’s duty to pay the defendant at Monmouth, Ill., all calls levied within thirty days from the time of mailing notices thereof, and the failure to pay such calls within such time rendered the policy absolutely null and void, and resulted in a forfeiture without further notice of any kind; that such calls, under the policy and by-laws,, were for payment of premiums due on the certificates sued on; that on the 24th day of September, 1930, the defendant mailed to plaintiff at Wheeler, Texas, two calls for premiums, advising him that on October 1, 1930, the sum of $6.55 would be due on each certificate at the office of the defendant at .Monmouth, Ill.; that the plaintiff failed within thirty days from the time of mailing said notices for the payment of premiums to pay the defendant said amount or any part thereof, by reason of which the certificates are null and void and of no further force and effect.

In a supplemental petition, in reply to the defendant’s answer, the plaintiff urged a general demurrer and general denial, and alleged that, prior to October 1, 1930, the defendant had made a practice of receiving and accepting premium payments due on certificates more than thirty days after the due date and continuing certificates in force and effect, regardless of the forfeiture clauses contained in said certificates or the by-laws of the company. He then pleads in detail numerous instances, beginning as early as 1925, that the defendant accepted the payment of his premiums after the lapse of the thirty days notice, and says that, because of such acts and conduct of the defendant, he was induced to believe that premiums on the certificates would be accepted after their due date, and ■defendant waived the. forfeiture clause, and is estopped from asserting it as a defense against the plaintiff.

The defendant, in a supplemental answer, demurred generally, specially excepted to the supplemental petition of plaintiff because the matters therein set out could not be properly set up in a supplemental petition, as the allegations therein constitute a part of plaintiff’s cause of action, and should have been pleaded in an amended original petition, and pleaded general denial.

In response to special issues submitted by the court, the jury found that prior to October 1, 1930, the defendant waived the right to forfeit plaintiff’s certificates for nonpay- ' ment of premiums within the thirty-day period, and that the defendant had accepted payment of premiums on said certificates after the thirty-day grace period had elapsed. On this verdict judgment was rendered for the plaintiff against the defendant for the “sum of $1,105.55, this being the amount of premiums paid by the plaintiff to the defendant, plus the legal rate of interest thereon from date of payment of premiums,’’ from which judgment the ' defendant' prosecutes this appeal.

The appellant urges as error the action of *744 the' trial court in refusing to submit its requested special issue submitting to the jury whether the Illinois Bankers’ Bife Assurance Company assumed the payment of the certificates and policies of insurance issued by the 'Illinois Bankers’ Life Association.

The appellee contends that the evidence on this question was uncontroverted, and therefore no issue of fact was presented for the jury’s determination.

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Bluebook (online)
48 S.W.2d 742, 1932 Tex. App. LEXIS 359, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/illinois-bankers-life-assur-co-v-garrison-texapp-1932.