Noble v. Kansas City Life Insurance

146 N.W. 606, 33 S.D. 458, 1914 S.D. LEXIS 51
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedApril 6, 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 146 N.W. 606 (Noble v. Kansas City Life Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Noble v. Kansas City Life Insurance, 146 N.W. 606, 33 S.D. 458, 1914 S.D. LEXIS 51 (S.D. 1914).

Opinion

GATES, J.

On or about March 16, 1911, the defendant delivered to plaintiff’s intestate, Theodore Parliman, its policy of insurance upon his life bearing date March 15, 1911, the annual premium being $50.17. The defendant accepted Parliman’s promissory note, dated March 6, 1911, and due six months thereafter for the first premium. Said note has never been paid. Parliman died on March 24, 1912, without having paid the second premium -on said policy which matured March 15, 1912. On or about March 30, 1912, plaintiff as administrator, pursuant to the 30 days of grace allowed by the policy tendered defendant -the amount of the second premium, which tender was refused. This action was tried by -the court and judgment rendered against the defendant for the full amount of the policy. Erom the judgment and order denying a new trial defendant appeals.

The defendant denies liability under the policy by reason of the following numbered paragraphs of the policy:

“1. This policy shall not take effect unless the first premium hereon has been paid, and this policy delivered to the applicant within thirty days from the date hereof, or unless the applicant is in good health at the time of its delivery.

“2. The first year’s premium only may be paid to the agent, All subsequent premiums are due and payable in advance at the home office of the company without notice. However, they may be paid to an authorized agent of the company, on or before the date when due, but only in exchange for a receipt signed -by the President, Vice-President, Secretary or Assistant Secretary, and countersigned by such agent. 'Upon failure to pay a premium on or before the date when due, or upon failure to pay any premium note when due, this policy shall become null and void, without any action or notice by the company, and all rights shall be forfeited to the company, except as hereinafter provided. * * *

“8. No agent has power on behalf of the company to modify this contract, to extend the time of payment of premiums, to [462]*462waive any forfeiture, to bind the company by making any promise or any representation, or to deliver any policy contrary to- the provisions of Section One hereof. These powers can be exercised only by the President, Vice President, Secretary or Assistant Secretary of the company and will not be delegated. * * *

“io. In case-of default in the payment of any premium hereunder, or of any premium note when due, the company will reinstate the policy, if not previously surrendered, at any time upon written request by the insured to the compan}' at its home office, accompanied by evidence of insurability satisfactory to the company, and the payment of all premium arrears, and the payment or reinstatement, of any indebtedness existing at the date of default, together with interest thereon at the rate of five per centum per annum.”

“n. Grace in payment of premiums — A grace of one month (without interest charge) during which the insurance will remain in full force will be allowed in the payment of all premiums except the first.”

Respondent contends that defendant’s liability is fixed by the following provisions in the policy’:

“This policy is issued in consideration of the stipulations, agreements and representations made in the application - for this policy, a copy of which application is hereto attached and made a part hereof, and said policy and application constitute the entire contract between the parties hereto and in further consideration of the annual premium of Fifty Dollars and Seventeen Cents for one year’s term insurance and to provide the legal reserve hereon from date hereof. This policy will be continued upon -the further payment of a like amount on or before the fifteenth day of March, each year thereafter until premiums shall have been paid for twenty years, including the first, or until the prior death of the insured.”

And by §1849 Civil Code, which is as follows:

“An acknowledgement in a policy of the receipt of premium is conclusive evidence of its payment so far as to make the policy binding, notwithstanding any stipulation therein that it shall not be binding until the premium is actually paid.”

It will be observed that the portion of the policy reciting the consideration does not contain in express terms the words “receipt [463]*463of which is hereby acknowledged” as contained in the standard forms of life insurance policies prescribed in Chap. 58, Laws 1909.

[1] It is appellant's contention that this court should not construe the recital of the consideration as an implied acknowledgment of the payment of the first premium and that if such acknowledgment is not implied this case does not fall under the provisions of section 1849, C. C.

In the case of Dircks v. German Insurance Co., 34 Mo. App. 31, the policy contained the following provisions: “The German Insurance Company by its policy of insurance in consideration of $38.50 do insure Henry H. Dirck against loss,” etc. Concerning that provision the court said: “ It does not acknowledge receipt of that amount, indeed is silent thus far as to whether ‘paid in hand’ or agreed to be paid. However, the policy does refer to an agreement as to the consequences of non-payment of a premium note and the note itself made at the time, and, which is to be considered along with the policy, expressly stipulates for the payment of the premium at a future time. So that it is clear from the face of the written agreements, then and there entered into, that it was not a cash transaction, but the issuing a policy in consideration of a premium to be paid at a future time.”

The contrary view was taken in Farnum v. Phoenix Ins. Co., 83 Cal. 246, 23 Pac. 869, 17 Am. St. Rep. 233, where it is stated: “The policy in this case does not formally express receipt of premium, -but it recites a consideration of $73.50 for the contract of "insurance, .and declares that the policy shall not be binding until countersigned by the agent at Stockton, and thus impliedly authorizes him to consummate a binding contract of insurance for the consideration expressed. If the policy had contained a formal receipt of premium, its unconditional delivery would have been conclusive evidence of payment, so as to have estopped the defendant from denying the validity of the policy notwithstanding the declaration in it that it shall not be binding until the premium is actually paid (Civ. Code, § 2598; Basch v. Humboldt, etc., Ins. Co., 35 N. J. Law, 429; Prov. Life Ins. Co. v. Fennell, 49 Ill. 180); ánd upon principle the same result should follow where the policy is delivered as a valid and completed contract upon a consideration expressed therein, the receipt of which is impliedly acknowledged, an authorized credit [464]*464having been agreed upon as an equivalent and substitute for cash payment.”

In case of Chasse v. Fife Ins. Co., 27 S. D. 70, 129 N. W.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
146 N.W. 606, 33 S.D. 458, 1914 S.D. LEXIS 51, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/noble-v-kansas-city-life-insurance-sd-1914.