Metzinger v. Manhattan Life Insurance

455 P.2d 391, 71 Cal. 2d 423, 78 Cal. Rptr. 463, 1969 Cal. LEXIS 265
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedJune 26, 1969
DocketL. A. No. 29643
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 455 P.2d 391 (Metzinger v. Manhattan Life Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Metzinger v. Manhattan Life Insurance, 455 P.2d 391, 71 Cal. 2d 423, 78 Cal. Rptr. 463, 1969 Cal. LEXIS 265 (Cal. 1969).

Opinions

BURKE, J.

Plaintiffs are the named beneficiaries of group insurance on the life of one Cholodenko.1 They appeal from a judgment denying recovery thereon and declaring the insurance contract null and void for fraudulent representations made in the application therefor. As will appear, we have concluded that the judgment should be reversed for failure of defendant to establish its compliance with a contract provision for furnishing a copy of the application to the beneficiaries or to the insured prior to the latter’s death.

Plaintiffs and Cholodenko were stockholders, officers and directors of the M & M Meat Company, Inc. In April 1963 Cholodenko submitted a written health application to defendant insurance company, seeking insurance on his life under a group policy issued by defendant to a group insurance trust, of which group M & M was a member. In the application' Cholodenko represented that he was in good health, that he had never had cancer, an ulcer of the stomach or duodenum, or any chronic disease, and that during the preceding two years he had not consulted with or been treated by any surgeon or practitioner except for regular medical checkups.

In June 1963 defendant approved the application and the following month a certificate of insurance under the group policy was delivered to Cholodenko evidencing insurance of $15,000 on his life, effective July 1, 1963, and naming plaintiffs as beneficiaries. In April 1964 Cholodenko died and plaintiffs applied to defendant for the proceeds of the policy. Defendant, which had discovered evidence that Cholodenko had made fraudulent misrepresentations as to his health on his application, denied liability on that ground. This action to recover on the policy followed.

At trial ample evidence was introduced to sustain the trial court’s finding that “each of the statements and representations contained in the written application of Leo It. Cholo-denko was false, incomplete and untrue and was known by Leo L. Cholodenko to be false, incomplete and untrue at the time said statements and representations were made. ...” The trial court also received evidence relating to defendant’s regular business practices in handling health applications, and the application of Cholodenko in particular, with respect [426]*426to the return of copies of such applications to the applicant, his'member company, or the beneficiaries. Over objections by plaintiffs the court also admitted in evidence the health application made by Cholodenko. As stated, the court ruled that Cholodenko’s misrepresentations vitiated the insurance, and denied recovery.

As grounds for reversal plaintiffs urge error by the court in admitting the application into evidence, in that (1) it was not attached to the policy as assertedly required by California Insurance Code section 10113,2 and (2) a copy of the application was not furnished to Cholodenko or his beneficiaries prior to his death, as assertedly required under certain provisions of both the basic group policy and the certificate of insurance issued to him.

The parties disagree as to whether section 10113,3 which is found in a chapter of the Insurance Code dealing with “The Contract” in general, was intended to apply to group life insurance transactions. Group life insurance is dealt with in a separate chapter, commencing with section 10200. Section 10113 by its terms refers to the insurance “policy” rather than to the insurance certificate which evidences individual coverage under a group policy. (§§10209, 10209.1.) Sections 102064 and 10207,5 which relate specifically to group life [427]*427insurance, cover similar subject matter but neither section requires that the individual employee’s health application be attached either to the basic group policy or to the individual certificate of insurance issued thereunder.

However, even if it be assumed that section 10113 does apply to group life insurance, it may be noted that defendant does not seek, in violation of its provisions, to “incorporate” anything whatever into the policy “by reference to any . . . application or other writings” not indorsed upon or attached to the policy; rather defendant asserts that it was in reliance upon Cholodenko’s false health representations that it was induced to issue insurance to him. (See §§350, 443.)6 Additionally, the requirements of section 10113 appear to have been met in this ease. The trial court specifically found, upon sufficient evidence, that a copy of the written application “relative to Cholodenko ’ ’ was attached to the basic group policy. Although the court also found that no copy of the application was attached to the certificate of individual insurance when it was issued and delivered to Cholodenko, no statutory provision requires such attachment. Even considering the certificate to constitute a part of the contract under a group policy (see Humphrey v. Equitable Life Assur. Soc. (1967) 67 Cal.2d 527, 534 [63 Cal.Rptr. 50, 432 P.2d 746]; John Hancock Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Dorman (9th Cir. 1939) 108 F.2d 220, 223), section 10113 does not purport to apply to individual certificates as distinguished from the basic group policy. Accordingly, defendant was not precluded from relying on Cholodenko’s health application by reason of any provision found in section 10113.

Plaintiffs also contend that a provision found in both the certificate of insurance delivered to Cholodenko and the basic group policy, required that a copy of the application be furnished to Cholodenko or to the beneficiaries prior to his death in order to be admissible at trial.7

[428]*428As stated, the trial court found that a copy of the application was not attached to the certificate of insurance when it was delivered to Cholodenko. It is undisputed, and the court also found, that a copy of the application was furnished to plaintiffs (beneficiaries) following Cholodenko’s death. No express finding was made as to whether or not a copy was furnished to either Cholodenko or plaintiffs' prior to the death. Defendant urges that the furnishing of the application after death constituted compliance with the provision upon which plaintiffs rely.

However, the purpose of such a provision is to provide an opportunity to review the application while the insured is still alive, and to correct misstatements which may appear therein. (See Layman v. Continental Assur. Co. (1968) 430 Pa. 134 [242 A.2d 256, 258].) Also, the language of the provision is calculated to lead an insured to believe that if a copy of the application containing his statements was not furnished during his lifetime, such statements could not be relied upon by the insurer after his death. Under familiar rules any uncertainties in the meaning of the provision must be construed in favor of imposing liability. (Humphrey v. Equitable Life Assur. Soc., supra, 67 Cal.2d 527, 532.) As noted in the case just cited (p.

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Bluebook (online)
455 P.2d 391, 71 Cal. 2d 423, 78 Cal. Rptr. 463, 1969 Cal. LEXIS 265, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/metzinger-v-manhattan-life-insurance-cal-1969.