National Life Ins. Co. of U. S. A. v. Johnson

Supreme Court of Alabama

National Life Ins. Co. of U. S. A. v. Johnson

103 So. 919, 212 Ala. 696

CourtSupreme Court of Alabama

DecidedMarch 19, 1925

Docket6 Div. 374.

StatusPublished

This text of 103 So. 919 (National Life Ins. Co. of U. S. A. v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

National Life Ins. Co. of U. S. A. v. Johnson, 103 So. 919, 212 Ala. 696 (Ala. 1925).

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Opinion

ANDERSON, C. J.

This is a suit upon an insurance policy by the beneficiary therein named, taken out by the deceased, Calloneil Johnson. Therefore the parties to the contract, as disclosed by the policy, are the insurance company and the deceased; the plaintiff being only the beneficiary, and not a party to the contract. The proof shows that the insured came by her death by virtue of an assault with a knife inflicted by another, and not for the sole purpose of burglary or robbery, and which excluded the policy under the terms of section 5 thereoi. The plaintiff sought to establish a waiver of this clause by attempting to prove that she was an ignorant woman, and an agent of the company represented to her that her daughter was insured against everything except childbirth or self-murder. Whether these representations wére made before or after the policy was issued may be questionable, and whether or not the agent could have waived the clause before or after the issuance of the policy may be questionable; yet there is no evidence whatever that the insured, the party to the contract, could not read and write, or *697 did not know of the clause, or that the agent made any false representations to her as an inducement for the issuance of the policy. There was manifest error in the rulings of the trial court as to the admission of the evidence and in the oral charge. The judgment of the circuit court is reversed, and the cause is remanded. Reversed and remanded.

SOMERVILLE, THOMAS, and BOULDIN, JJ., concur.

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ANDERSON, C. J.

This is a suit upon an insurance policy by the beneficiary therein named, taken out by the deceased, Calloneil Johnson. Therefore the parties to the contract, as disclosed by the policy, are the insurance company and the deceased; the plaintiff being only the beneficiary, and not a party to the contract. The proof shows that the insured came by her death by virtue of an assault with a knife inflicted by another, and not for the sole purpose of burglary or robbery, and which excluded the policy under the terms of section 5 thereoi. The plaintiff sought to establish a waiver of this clause by attempting to prove that she was an ignorant woman, and an agent of the company represented to her that her daughter was insured against everything except childbirth or self-murder. Whether these representations wére made before or after the policy was issued may be questionable, and whether or not the agent could have waived the clause before or after the issuance of the policy may be questionable; yet there is no evidence whatever that the insured, the party to the contract, could not read and write, or *697 did not know of the clause, or that the agent made any false representations to her as an inducement for the issuance of the policy. There was manifest error in the rulings of the trial court as to the admission of the evidence and in the oral charge. The judgment of the circuit court is reversed, and the cause is remanded. Reversed and remanded.

SOMERVILLE, THOMAS, and BOULDIN, JJ., concur.

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Bluebook (online)

103 So. 919, 212 Ala. 696, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-life-ins-co-of-u-s-a-v-johnson-ala-1925.