Life & Casualty Insurance v. Blackburn

1 S.E.2d 450, 59 Ga. App. 479, 1939 Ga. App. LEXIS 331
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 21, 1939
Docket27321
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 1 S.E.2d 450 (Life & Casualty Insurance v. Blackburn) 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
Life & Casualty Insurance v. Blackburn, 1 S.E.2d 450, 59 Ga. App. 479, 1939 Ga. App. LEXIS 331 (Ga. Ct. App. 1939).

Opinion

Sutton, J.

John H. Blackburn, as beneficiary, brought suit against Life & Casualty Insurance Company of Tennessee to recover, under an insurance policy issued to his. son, Frank C. Blackburn, on October 7, 1936, the face value of $1000, penalty and attorney’s fees. It was alleged that the insured died on January 19, 1938, that due proofs of his death had been furnished the insurer, that, although demand for payment had been made, the defendant denied liability and refused to make payment to the plaintiff, that such refusal was in bad faith, and that in consequence thereof plaintiff was entitled to recover, in addition to the principle of $1000, 25 % of such amount as damages, together with reasonable attorney’s fees. By amendment it was alleged that on the date the policy was issued and delivered the insured was in life and in sound health, and that the first premium was paid in cash. A copy of the policy was attached to the petition as exhibit A and made a part thereof, and to the policy was attached a copy of the application under which the policy was issued.

[480]*480The defendant answered, admitting the issuance of the policy and the payment of the first premium, the filing of proofs of loss in due time, but denied liability, setting up as the reason for not paying the plaintiffs claim that the insured made false and fraudulent answers to some of the questions asked in the application for insurance, the questions and answers being as follows: "When last sick? June, 1936. Nature of last sickness? Stomach upset. How long sick ? Two days. Have you had any surgical operation, serious illness, or accident? Nasal operation in 1935. Have you been attended by a physician during the last five years ? If answer yes, give name of complaint, date, how long sick, and name of physician. June, 1936, Dr. Etheridge, stomach upset; February, 1935, nose operation, J. D. Blackburn. Have you had any treatment within last five years at any dispensary, hospital, or sanatorium? If yes, give date, duration, name of ailment, and name of institution. Nasal operation, 1935; one day in hospital.” It was further alleged in the answer that the insured concealed from the insurer the fact that when he was treated by Dr. Etheridge he was not only treated for stomach upset but for angina pectoris, and that in answering he further concealed the fact that at various times during the year prior to the time he made the application for insurance he was-treated by Dr. E. L. Graydon for high blood pressure, hypertension, and nervousness. It was further alleged that the defendant had tendered to the plaintiff the sum of the premiums which had been paid on the policy, that its acceptance had been refused by the plaintiff, and that it had paid the amount into court as a continuous offer.

The evidence on the trial of the case was substantially as follows: John H. Blackburn testified that the insured, his son, was living with him in October, 1936, had always been health}', had the appearance of being in fine and robust health, that he weighed about 171 pounds and was 44 years of age, and that the insured died on January 19, 1938; that the insured had been living in a room in Atlanta prior to June, 1936, his best recollection being that at that time the insured moved to his home in Mountain View, Clayton County, Georgia.

Dr. C. H. Paine testified that as a physician and surgeon he examined the insured for the defendant; that he asked the questions and received the answers as set out in the application for insurance; [481]*481that at that time the insured did not say anything about having been in Crawford W. Long Hospital, or anything about Dr. Etheridge having treated him in that hospital; that the company did not ask for urinalysis and blood pressure in the case of a policy in the amount here involved, and that from the examination he made, so far as he could tell, the insured had nothing indicating a condition of bad health; that the statements made by the insured to him did not indicate any bad health, and that, so far as the witness could tell, the insured was in good health; that in the examination he had to rely in a sense on the answers made to the questions asked; that he used a stethoscope and had the insured to unbutton his shirt and did not discover anything wrong with his heart, but that he could not have told from such examination whether or not-the insured had angina pectoris at the time. In answer to a hypothetical question, based on facts in evidence, he stated that if the insured was taken suddenly sick on January 19, 1938, and had had bronchitis and cold for a period of weeks, with severe coughing spells, and at 9:30 a. m. on January 19, 1938, had intense pains under the upper end of the sternum, went to bed, was comfortable after lunch, and at 3 :15 p. m. his blood pressure was normal, his pulse normal, and at 3 :53 he complained of blindness and then died within two minutes, in the opinion of the witness the insured had a heart attack at the time mentioned.

Dr. J. C. Stewart testified that he was called to see the insured on June 29, 1936, and that when he arrived he found him suffering with pain in his chest, pain extending to his left arm, that he gave him a hypodermic, staying with him thirty minutes or an hour, examined his heart, took his pulse, and that from his examination the witness was of the opinion that at that time the insured had angina pectoris; that he remained with the insured until his regular physician, Dr. Etheridge, came and took him to the Crawford W. Long Hospital. In answering a similar hypothetical question to that asked the witness, Dr. C. H. Paine, he stated that in his opinion the insured died from heart trouble.

Dr. J. H. Etheridge testified that on June 29, 1936, he was called to treat the insured at a drug store at McCall’s Crossing, the place of the insured’s employment, and found Dr. Stewart with the insured when he arrived; that the insured was suffering quite a little pain in the chest, radiating down the left arm; that Dr.. Stewart [482]*482had given him morphine and he gave him an additional one-quarter grain; that the pains were substernum; that he took the insured in the witness’s car to the Crawford W. Long Hospital, stayed with him until he was easy that night, went back to see him between then and midnight, and also went back the next morning and dismissed him that day; that he did not tell him what his trouble was but diagnosed it as angina pectoris; that he seemed to be all right the day he was dismissed; that he got easy shortly after being taken to the hospital, and said that he had a very comfortable night; that the symptoms described might have been diagnosed as acute indigestion; that without finding some physical basis for the diagnosis he could not have been positive; and that after going over the insured and not finding any organic condition of the heart, he could not say positively that the trouble was or was not angina pectoris, but that the trouble looked like that when he examined the patient; that, however, angina pectoris might be confused with acute indigestion, and whatever he had did not last long; that angina pectoris does not usually last very long and the patient gets relief usually in a limited time; that in his examination of the patient he did not find any organic heart trouble; that his blood pressure was within normal limits, and what he gave him was for the relief of pain in any form.

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Bluebook (online)
1 S.E.2d 450, 59 Ga. App. 479, 1939 Ga. App. LEXIS 331, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/life-casualty-insurance-v-blackburn-gactapp-1939.