Ohio National Life Assurance Corp. v. Satterfield

2011 Ohio 2116, 956 N.E.2d 866, 194 Ohio App. 3d 405
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 4, 2011
Docket25282
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 2011 Ohio 2116 (Ohio National Life Assurance Corp. v. Satterfield) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ohio National Life Assurance Corp. v. Satterfield, 2011 Ohio 2116, 956 N.E.2d 866, 194 Ohio App. 3d 405 (Ohio Ct. App. 2011).

Opinions

Dickinson, Presiding Judge.

INTRODUCTION

{¶ 1} John Satterfield bought a life insurance policy from Ohio National Life Assurance Corporation. On his application, Mr. Satterfield wrote that he had never had cancer, which was true at the time he submitted the application. [409]*409While Ohio National was processing the application, however, he was diagnosed and treated for cancer. He did not update his application, and Ohio National issued him a policy. When Mr. Satterfield died 3 1/2 years later, Ohio National refused to pay benefits, alleging that there was no contract because of the change in Mr. Satterfield’s medical history before it delivered the policy. It filed for a declaratory judgment, arguing that it did not have to pay benefits. Mr. Satterfield’s wife, Carole Satterfield, who was the beneficiary of the policy, counterclaimed, alleging breach of contract and bad faith. The trial court entered judgment for Mrs. Satterfield, concluding that it was too late for Ohio National to contest the life insurance contract, that Ohio National breached the contract, that Mrs. Satterfield was entitled to benefits, and that Ohio National had acted in bad faith when it denied her claim. It awarded Mrs. Satterfield the amount of the policy and interest, but not attorney fees. Ohio National has appealed, arguing that the trial court incorrectly determined that it breached the contract and acted in bad faith. Mrs. Satterfield has cross-appealed, arguing that the trial court’s damages award on her bad-faith claim was inadequate, that the court incorrectly denied her motion for new trial, and that the court incorrectly denied her attorney fees in connection with her successful motion to transfer venue. We affirm because the trial court properly interpreted the contract, its bad-faith and damages findings were not against the manifest weight of the evidence, and it exercised proper discretion when it denied Mrs. Satterfield’s motion for costs and fees.

RELEVANT CONTRACT PROVISIONS

{¶ 2} According to the policy that Ohio National delivered to Mr. Satterfield, their “entire contract is your application and this policy.” See R.C. 3915.05(C) (providing that “[n]o policy of life insurance shall be issued or delivered * * * unless such policy contains * * * [a] provision that the policy and the application therefor * * * shall constitute the entire contract between the parties.”). According to Mr. Satterfield’s application, “[i]t is mutually agreed that: * * * no policy shall be in force unless and until: (1) it is delivered to [the applicant]; (2) the first full premium is paid during the lifetime of all persons to be insured under the policy; and (3) the statements and answers in this application remain true and complete, without material change, as of the date of the policy delivery.” According to the policy, Ohio National “may not contest this contract due to a false statement, material to the risk, which was made in your application for an amount of insurance, if: (a) you live more than 2 years after such amount takes effect; and (b) the contract is in force at the time of your death.” See also R.C. 3915.05(C) (providing that life insurance contracts must contain “[a] provision that the policy * * * shall be incontestable after it has been in force during the [410]*410lifetime of the insured for a period of not more than two years from its date, except for nonpayment of premiums.”).

BREACH OF CONTRACT

{¶ 3} Ohio National’s first assignment of error is that the trial court incorrectly entered judgment for Mrs. Satterfield on her breach-of-contract claim. It has argued that because Mr. Satterfield got cancer between the date he submitted his application and the date it delivered his policy, they never had a contract. According to Ohio National, Mr. Satterfield’s diagnosis was a material change to a statement that he made in his application, resulting in the failure of one of the contract’s conditions precedent. Ohio National has argued that Mr. Satterfield bore the risk of a change in his health after he submitted his application. According to it, if Mr. Satterfield had wanted to protect himself from a postapplication change in health, he could have purchased a temporary life insurance policy.

{¶ 4} Mrs. Satterfield does not deny that her husband’s cancer diagnosis was a material change to a statement he made in his application, but argues that Ohio National’s argument is barred by the policy’s incontestability clause. Ohio National has argued that the incontestability clause does not apply because it only applies to a contract, which was never formed in this case because of the failure of the condition precedent. See Riggs v. Std. Slag Co. (Nov. 10,1993), 9th Dist. No. 16199, 1993 WL 473817, at *2 (“A contract is not formed until all conditions precedent are satisfied”).

{¶ 5} We reject Ohio National’s argument because the “material change” clause was not a condition precedent. “A condition precedent is ‘an act or event, other than a lapse of time, which must exist or occur before a duty of immediate performance of a promise arises.’ ” Plazzo v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co. (Feb. 14, 1996), 9th Dist. No. 17022, 1996 WL 62110, at *3, quoting Calamari and Perillo, Contracts (1970) 226, Section 138. According to the Ohio Supreme Court, “a condition precedent is one that is to be performed before the agreement becomes effective. It calls for the happening of some event, or the performance of some act, after the terms of the contract have been agreed on, before the contract shall be binding on the parties.” Mumaw v. W. & S. Life Ins. Co. (1917), 97 Ohio St. 1, 11, 119 N.E. 132.

{¶ 6} In Mumaw, John Mumaw purchased a life insurance policy with a provision that “this contract shall not be in force unless * * * the insured is alive and in sound health upon * * * the date of the delivery of this policy.” Id. at 5. When Mumaw died less than a year later, the insurance company refused to pay his wife benefits, alleging that the “sound. health” provision was a condition [411]*411precedent and that Mrs. Mumaw had not proved that her husband was of sound health at the time the policy was delivered. Id. at 3-4. The Supreme Court explained the difference between a condition precedent and a warranty, noting that a warranty “lacks the essential element of a condition precedent, in that it contains no stipulation that an event shall happen or an act shall be performed in the future, before the policy shall become effectual. It is more in the nature of a defeasance, where the insured contracts that, if the representations made by him are not true, the policy shall be defeated and avoided.” Id. at 9, quoting Chambers v. Northwestern Mut. Life Ins. Co. (1896), 64 Minn. 495, 67 N.W. 367, 368. Noting that the sound-health and other related provisions did not require “that ‘some event shall happen,’ or ‘some act shall be performed’ afterwards, in order that the contract shall be in force,” the Supreme Court concluded that “[t]hey are rather in the nature of a warranty that a certain state of facts which the parties supposed to then exist did in truth exist.” Id. at 12.

{¶ 7} In Mumaw, the Ohio Supreme Court explained that “[i]n the case of a warranty, the contract takes effect; but it may provide that if there is a breach of the warranty or a misrepresentation of fact the contract is void ab initio.” Id. at 12. It concluded that because the contract provisions at issue were warranties instead of conditions precedent, the insurance company had the burden of proving noncompliance. Id. at 13.

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2011 Ohio 2116, 956 N.E.2d 866, 194 Ohio App. 3d 405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ohio-national-life-assurance-corp-v-satterfield-ohioctapp-2011.