Janelunas v. Chicago Fraternal Life Ass'n

3 N.E.2d 86, 286 Ill. App. 219, 1936 Ill. App. LEXIS 448
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 29, 1936
DocketGen. No. 38,805
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 3 N.E.2d 86 (Janelunas v. Chicago Fraternal Life Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Janelunas v. Chicago Fraternal Life Ass'n, 3 N.E.2d 86, 286 Ill. App. 219, 1936 Ill. App. LEXIS 448 (Ill. Ct. App. 1936).

Opinion

Mr. Justice O’Connor

delivered the opinion of the court.

Plaintiff, the beneficiary of a certificate for $2,000 issued by defendant September 1, 1930, to plaintiff’s mother, brought an action against defendant to recover the face of the certificate. There was a verdict and judgment in plaintiff’s favor for $2,460, being the face of the certificate with interest, and defendant appeals.

The record discloses that on August 27, 1930, Johanna Janelunas, plaintiff’s mother, made a written application for a beneficial membership in defendant association. She was examined by a physician and on September 1, 1930, defendant issued to her its certificate whereby she was acknowledged to be a member of the association and entitled to such rights and privileges as were provided in its constitution and laws, upon condition that the certificate, articles of incorporation, constitution and laws, the statements made in her application for membership and the statements made by her to the medical examiner should constitute the contract between her and defendant association; and on these conditions it promised to bind itself to pay her son, Julius J. Janelunas, $2,000 upon satisfactory evidence of the death of his mother provided she was in good standing at the time of her death. She died January 9, 1931, and the defense interposed was that in her application she had (1) falsely and incorrectly stated her age in that she stated she was born in 1871, while the evidence shows she was born in 1876, and (2) that she had falsely and incorrectly stated in her application for membership that she had never been rejected “by any other insurance company”; that the statements made by her were warranties, and the certificate was therefore void.

The evidence shows that Mrs. Janelunas was born in Lithuania; that she could not read or write the English language and could speak but very little English ; that the application in the record purports to be signed by her by her cross. In the application it is stated, “I do hereby warrant the truthfulness of the statements in this application, and consent and agree that any untrue statements made therein, or to the Medical Examiner, or any concealment of facts by me in this application . . . shall forfeit the rights of myself, my family and dependents to all benefits and privileges therein.” In the document in the record purporting to be the report of the medical examiner, it is stated, “for the purpose of securing beneficial membership in the Chicago Fraternal Association, do hereby expressly warrant the truthfulness of all the statements made by me herein, and of each statement and answer made by me to the questions in my Medical Examination, . . . and I do hereby consent and agree that each and all of said statements and answers shall form the basis of my membership in said Society and that any untrue or fraudulent statement or statements, or concealment or suppression of facts by me, whether they are material or not in my application for membership, my medical examination, or made to the Medical Examiner, . . . shall forfeit all rights, . . . benefit and privileges of myself, ... or beneficiaries named in any benefit certificate which may be issued from this agreement and application. ... I hereby warrant the truthfulness of all the answers given to the above questions. ’ ’

In the benefit certificate it was stated the insured, “is a member of said Society, and is entitled to such rights and privileges in the Society as are provided by its constitution and laws, upon condition that this Benefit Certificate, the articles of incorporation of the Society, the constitution and laws thereof, the statements made in the application for membership and the statements made to the Medical Examiner . . . shall constitute the contract between the member and the Society. ’ ’

Section 250 of the by-laws which was introduced in evidence by defendant on the trial provides: “If it shall appear that a member has made a mistake in giving his age at the time of admission, he shall make a written statement of the facts to the Supreme Secretary, and if satisfied that no fraud was intended, the age and payments of the member shall be corrected.

... If he reported his age older than he was at the time of admission, the difference between what he paid and the amount due for his correct age shall be refunded to him, and he shall thereafter be rated at his correct age. ... If understated, and not corrected, the member, or in case of his death, his beneficiary . . . shall be entitled only to the amount of benefit which the sum paid would have purchased at his correct age if eligible in this Society.”

On the trial the documentary evidence tended to show that Mrs. Janelunas was born in 1867 or 1869, 1871 or 1876,- but it is conceded by counsel for defendant in their brief that, “We will grant for the purpose of argument that the plaintiff has satisfactorily proven the correct date of the applicant’s birth to be June 23, 1876.” The by-laws provided that no one over 59 years of age was eligible for membership, but the purported application which is in the record, wherein the date of the applicant’s birth is stated to be June 23, 1871, would show that at that time she was 59 years, two months and four days of age and therefore ineligible, which facts obviously were known to defendant. But it being admitted that the applicant was born June 23, 1876, she was eligible for membership, and the only effect of giving the wrong age, if such were the fact, would be to vary the amount recoverable in case of her death, as provided by section 250 of the by-laws above quoted.

It is obvious that neither the applicant nor the defendant understood that the applicant was warranting the statements made by her in her application and in her answers to the medical examiner, because if they were technical warranties the certificate would be void, as expressly stated in the application and in the medical report. In the medical examination she was asked whether she ever had any of 67 specific diseases or ailments. It is obvious that defendant knew Mrs. Janelunas could not truthfully answer these questions, and it also- knew that no one, not even the most skilful physician, after a most searching examination, would be able to discover whether she had ever had any of these diseases or ailments. Obviously, it would be unreasonable to say the applicant and the defendant both understood that she was warranting the truthfulness of her answers. Minnesota Life Ins. Co. v. Link, 230 Ill. 273; Moulor v. American Life Ins. Co., 111 U. S. 335; Globe Mut. Life Ins. Ass’n v. Wagner, 188 Ill. 133. This is clearly shown by the fact that section 250 of the by-laws provides, not that the certificate should be void in case the applicant did not state her age correctly, but that in case of death the amount recoverable by the beneficiary would be based upon the correct age of the applicant.

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Bluebook (online)
3 N.E.2d 86, 286 Ill. App. 219, 1936 Ill. App. LEXIS 448, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/janelunas-v-chicago-fraternal-life-assn-illappct-1936.