National Security Life & Casualty Co. of Dallas v. Gooch

289 S.W.2d 336, 1956 Tex. App. LEXIS 2549
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 26, 1956
DocketNo. 6581
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 289 S.W.2d 336 (National Security Life & Casualty Co. of Dallas v. Gooch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Security Life & Casualty Co. of Dallas v. Gooch, 289 S.W.2d 336, 1956 Tex. App. LEXIS 2549 (Tex. Ct. App. 1956).

Opinion

PITTS, Chief Justice.

This appeal is from a judgment awarding hospitalization and medical expenses together with attorney fees and penalty, claimed by appellees, Clarkie K. Gooch and husband, N. Paul Gooch, against appellant, National Security Life and Casualty Company of Dallas, Texas, as a result of the illness of appellee, N. Paul Gooch, while covered by an insurance policy issued to ap-pellees by appellant. The record reveals that said Policy Number MIJOO-2774 was issued on October 10, 1952, and was in full force on June 23, 1954, when appellee, N. Paul Gooch, suffered a heart attack which required hospitalization for a period of 41 days together with medical treatment. As a result of such illness, appellees filed a claim [337]*337under the terms of the policy with appellant’s legal agents, who refused to pay the claim, which resulted in the filing of this suit on January 3, 1935'.

In the trial court, appellant sought to defeat appellees’ claim for hospitalization and medical expenses on the alleged grounds that material misrepresentations were made to its agent by appellees in their application for the insurance and it sought to defeat appellees’ claim for attorney fees and 12% penalty for the alleged reason that it and its policy are not subject to such attorney fees and penalty under the provisions of the law. The case was tried to the court without a jury as a result of which appellant’s contentions were overruled by the trial court, which awarded ap-pellees the sum of $552.20 to cover hospital and medical expenses under the terms of the policy, together with 12% of the foregoing sum as a penalty and attorney fees in the sum of $250, from which judgment appellant perfected ah appeal.

The statement of facts presented is replete with photostats of instruments which form the basis for this law suit. Such photostats are very tiring and injurious to the eyes of a reader, for which reasons the use of such have been condemned by our appellate courts. Graves v. Hallmark, Tex. Civ.App., 232 S.W.2d 130; The Western Union Tel. Co. v.- Texas Employment Commission, 150 Tex. 526, 243 S.W.2d 154, and other authorities cited by the opinions in these cases.

In its brief, appellant charges error in Point No. 1 because the trial court refused to admit in evidence its certificate of authority issued by the Texas Board of Insurance Commissioners, properly authenticated, showing it to be a state mutual assessment company operating under the provisions of Chapters 13 and 14 of the State Insurance Code, V.A.T.S., at the time the policy was issued to appellees and that it was not therefore subject to the penalty and attorney fees awarded appellees by the trial court. In its Bill of Exception Number 1, appellant attaches thereto its said certificate of authority showing its right to so operate from March 7, 1952, until May 31, 1953, during which period of time the policy was issued, and the certificate of authority supports appellant’s contentions here made to the effect that it was operating under the provisions of Chapters 13 and 14 of the Insurance Code as a statewide mutual assessment company. Appel-lees objected to its admissibility solely on the grounds that such was not the best evidence of its authority. The said certificate of authority was admissible in evidence under the provisions of Article 1.23 of the Insurance Code and should have been admitted in evidence. Appellant also offered a similar certificate of authority showing it was still operating in the same manner but its admissibility was refused. Chapter 13 of the Insurance Code is entitled and pertains to “Statewide Mutual Assessment Companies” and Chapter 14 thereof is entitled and pertains- to “General Provisions For Mutual Assessment Companies”. The face of the policy introduced and relied upon by appellees for recovery denominates it as a policy “issued by National Security Life and Casualty Company of Dallas, Texas, A Statewide Mutual Life, Health and Accident Company.”

In construing the law governing the operation- of mutual assessment insurance associations, it has been held that such are not liable for penalties and attorney fees when it appears that the company is governed by such statutes. American Casualty & Life Co. v. Hale, Tex.Civ.App., 198 S.W.2d 759, wherein the case of General Life Ins. Co. v. Potter, Tex.Civ.App., 124 S.W.2d -409, was cited in support thereof. The insurance" laws have been recodified since the foregoing cases were heard and disposed of and compiled into the Insurance Code, effective since September 7, 1951. But an examination of the new Insurance Code reveals no change made contrary to the construction of the previous insurance law as announced by the courts in the cases previously cited pertaining to 12% penalty and attorney fees. For the reasons stated, it was error for the trial court to refuse the admission in evidence of appellant’s certificate of authority of[338]*338fered, which certificate is properly before this Court and when considered, together with evidence offered, it conclusively appears that appellant was governed by the provisions of Chapters 13 and 14 of the Insurance Code, which provisions do not authorize the penalty and attorney fee awarded appellees by the trial court.

Appellant complains because the trial court refused to admit in evidence its Exhibit No. 3 which was certified copies of proceedings had before the Texas Industrial Accident Board concerning an injury sustained by appellee, Paul Gooch, on October 15, 1947, while employed at Andrews, Texas. According to appellant’s Bill of Exception No. 3 presented by it in support of its claims, such exhibit was offered for the purpose of seeking to impeach the testimony of appellee, Clarkie K. Gooch, concerning her statements made about the health of appellee, N. Paul Gooch, at the time the application for the insurance was signed by her and for the further purpose of showing the seriousness and duration of the injuries Paul Gooch received on the said date. Appellees objected to the introduction thereof on the grounds that such proceedings concerning the injuries received by Paul Gooch on October 15, 1947, was not material to any representations thereafter made by appellee, Clarkie K. Gooch, which resulted in issuing the policy five years later on October 10, 1952, and upon further grounds that no showing had been made even indicating that there was any connection between the injuries received by Paul Gooch on October 15, 1947, and his subsequent heart attack on June 23, 1954. The trial court sustained appellees’ objections and declined to admit such exhibit in evidence.

The evidence reveals that appellee, Clarkie K. Gooch, signed the application for the policy covering herself and her husband on September 30, 1952, and gave the answers to the questions therein propounded. In question No. 5, she was asked, “Are all applicants now in good health and free from any physical or mental defects or abnormalities?” to which she replied, “Yes.” In question No. 8, she was asked, “Has any applicant, within the past three years, had medical or surgical advice or treatment or any illness or injury?” to which she replied, “No.” At the trial, she testified positively that such statements previously made by her were true and she did not retract them. No testimony was given or offered to the contrary. She further testified that her husband, N.

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289 S.W.2d 336, 1956 Tex. App. LEXIS 2549, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-security-life-casualty-co-of-dallas-v-gooch-texapp-1956.