Interstate Life & Accident Co. v. Stonecypher

188 S.E. 294, 54 Ga. App. 497, 1936 Ga. App. LEXIS 681
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedNovember 7, 1936
Docket25676
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 188 S.E. 294 (Interstate Life & Accident Co. v. Stonecypher) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Interstate Life & Accident Co. v. Stonecypher, 188 S.E. 294, 54 Ga. App. 497, 1936 Ga. App. LEXIS 681 (Ga. Ct. App. 1936).

Opinion

Sutton, J.

John E. Stonecypher filed suit against the Interstate Life & Accident Company in which he alleged that on July 12, 1931-, the defendant solicited and obtained an application for insurance on the life of his daughter, Mrs. Maye Patterson, in the amount of $345, its agent collecting from petitioner at the time. $3 as the payment of the first twelve weekly premiums and issuing the defendant's regular receipt in which was stated the purpose of the payment, a copy of which receipt was attached to the petition as exhibit A and made a part thereof, and reading: "The Interstate Life & Accident Co. of Chattanooga, Tenn. Incorporated under the laws of the State of Tennessee. Received of John E. Stonecjrpher $3.00 for a deposit of-weekly premiums on account of application for insurance in the Interstate Life & Accident Company made this date. If the application is accepted and a policy issued, this sum will be applied toward payment of the premiums thereon. If application is rejected, the amount will be returned to the applicant. No obligation is incurred by said company by reason of this deposit, unless and until a policy is issued upon said application, and unless at the date of delivery of said policy the life proposed is alive and in sound health. Except that if the life proposed is now in sound health, and the amount [499]*499paid by the applicant at the time the application is written is not less than four weekly premiums, and this receipt, detached from the original application, covering said payments, is surrendered to the company, the company agrees, if the application is approved by the home office in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that should death occur prior to the delivery of this policy, it will nevertheless pay such amounts as would have been due under the policy if issued. No obligation is assumed by the company unless the application is so approved and the life proposed is now in sound health. G-. A. Brown, Agent.” It was further alleged that at the time of the application Maye Patterson was in sound health; that the application was approved by the home office of the defendant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and on July 23, 1934, it issued its policy No. F2486946 on the said life in the amount of $345, naming John E. Patterson as the beneficiary therein, a copy of the policy being at-' tached to the petition as exhibit B and made a part thereof; that the naming of John E. Patterson as the beneficiary was a clerical mistake, the intention of all parties being that the plaintiff should be the beneficiary; that on July 26, 1934, Maye Patterson died, and subsequently the said policy was delivered to the plaintiff, who was informed that payment thereof would be made as soon as proper proof of loss was furnished; that on August 4, 1934, proper proof of the death of the insured was submitted to the defendant, who obtained from the plaintiff the original receipt for $3, the same, detached from the original application, being surrendered with the understanding and definite statement by the defendant that the amount of the policy would be paid in a few days; that thereafter, from time to time, the plaintiff made written demands on the defendant for payment, offering to furnish any further information desired; that on September 20, 1934, the defendant declined to make pajunent; that subsequently the plaintiff, through his attorneys, made additional demands for payment, the last being on October 4, 1934, but the defendant still refused to make payment; that, acting upon the promise of defendant, when the original receipt was surrendered, that it would make payment within a few days, the plantiff incurred substantial indebtedness in placing monuments and protectors at the grave of the insured, and for that reason the defendant is estopped to deny the indebtedness to the plaintiff; that the defendant accepted the [500]*500proof of death of the insured as satisfactory, waived further proof or information; that its refusal to make payment was and is in bad faith; that such conduct has caused the plaintiff to go to the expense of employing counsel and making expensive investigations with reference to his claim, and that by reason thereof the defendant is indebted to him in the further sum of 25 per cent, as damages on the claim and $250 as attorney’s fees. The prayers were that paragraph 6 of the policy be so reformed as to substitute the name of the plaintiff as beneficiary instead of that of John E. Patterson; that the plaintiff have judgment against the defendant for $345, plus interest from August 4, 1934, with 25 per cent, damages and $250 attorney’s fees.

The defendant filed an answer admitting that the insurance application was submitted to it, and was approved at its home office; that the insured died on July 26, 1934; that proof of death was submitted on August 4, 1934; that it received from the plaintiff’s attorneys letters demanding payment under the policy, and that it refused to pay. It denied that it was acting in bad faith; denied that it issued to the plaintiff the $3 receipt in question, or that it ever received such sum; denied that the insured was in sound health at the time of her application;.denied that the policy was delivered to the plaintiff and that he was informed that the policy would be paid as soon as proper proof of death be made; denied that it was indebted to the plaintiff, or that it accepted the premium and was estopped to deny liability. For further answer the defendant alleged that the policy was void, because the applicant wilfully concealed material facts in connection with the application for insurance; that the insured died of pulmonary embolism, a disease that could not possibly have formed since the date of the application; that the policy is void because it provides that “This policy shall not take effect unless on the date and delivery hereof the insured is alive and in sound health;” that on the date of the delivery of the policy and seven days before its issuance she was taken to a hospital, suffering from the disease from which she died, and could not possibly have been in sound health; that under the Wins of the policy “No person except the president, secretary or assistant secretary has the power to modify, or, in the event of lapse, to reinstate this policy or to extend the time of payment of a premium. No agent has power on behalf of [501]*501the company to waive any forfeiture, or to bind the company by making any promise, or by making or receiving any representations or information.” The defendant alleged that it was not indebted to the plaintiff in excess of the premiums paid; that such amount had been tendered before the institution of the suit; and that it makes a continuing offer of this amount and pays it into the registry of the court in full satisfaction of all claims under the policy.

On the trial the following documents were introduced in evidence: The application of Maye Patterson, dated July 12, 1934, it not having been attached to or made a part of the policy; the certificate attached to same, signed by G. A.

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Related

Brown v. Salter
1 S.E.2d 468 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1939)

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Bluebook (online)
188 S.E. 294, 54 Ga. App. 497, 1936 Ga. App. LEXIS 681, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/interstate-life-accident-co-v-stonecypher-gactapp-1936.