Prudential Insurance Co. of America v. Beaty

456 S.W.2d 164, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 2431
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 2, 1970
DocketNo. 7989
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 456 S.W.2d 164 (Prudential Insurance Co. of America v. Beaty) 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
Prudential Insurance Co. of America v. Beaty, 456 S.W.2d 164, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 2431 (Tex. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinions

FANNING, Justice.

Appellee sued appellants to recover benefits under a certificate of credit life insurance issued by Prudential Insurance Company to Willis Beaty, deceased, in connection with the purchase by appellee and her husband, Mr. Beaty, of a new automobile in January, 1967. Appellants denied liability on the basis of an alleged misrepresentation by Mr. Beaty as to his “good health” when completing the application for the insurance. Mr. Beaty died very shortly after the execution of the application and Mrs. Beaty, as community survivor, brought the suit to collect on the insurance benefits.

Trial was to the court with the aid of a jury. At the close of the testimony appellants moved for an instructed verdict on the basis that as a matter of law all of the essential elements of the misrepresentation defense had been established through stipulations by counsel and the uncontroverted testimony. The motion was overruled.

The jury, in response to special issue No. 1, found to the effect that the representation made by Willis Beaty on or about January 21st, 1967, that he was in “Good Health” was false. The definition given in connection with issue 1, was as follows:

• “You are instructed that by the term ‘Good Health’ as used here, is meant ‘A state of health free from any disease or bodily infirmity of a substantial nature which affects the general soundness and healthfulness of the system seriously, or materially increased the risk to be assumed by the insured.’ ”

The jury in response to conditionally submitted issue 2 found to the effect that Willis Beaty did not know that he was not in “Good Health”, (as that term has been defined) on or about January 21st, 1967.

Conditionally submitted issues 3 and 4 inquiring as to whether the representation of Beaty that he was in “Good Health” on or about January 21, 1967, was made for the purpose of inducing Prudential Life Insurance Company to issue the policy of life insurance in question, and whether Prudential relied upon Beaty’s said representation of “Good Health” on or about the 21st day of January, 1967, were not answered by the jury.

Both parties stipulated that the “Good Health” representation of Beaty above referred to was “material to the risk”.

Appellant’s motion for judgment N.O.V., and to disregard the finding to issue 2 was overruled and judgment was entered for plaintiff-appellee for the amount of the [166]*166policy and for an attorney’s fee and costs. Appellants’ motion for new trial was overruled. Appellants have appealed.

Appellants on appeal, among other things, contend to the effect that they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law, in that the jury’s finding to special issue 1, and the uncontroverted facts established that Mr. Beaty was not in “good health” on or about January 21, 1967, that he knew, and was charged with knowledge, as a matter of law, under the uncontroverted facts in this case, that he was not in “good health”, at the time he applied for the certificate of insurance and that all other elements of the defense of misrepresentation by the insured were conclusively established as a matter of law by jury findings, stipulations and the uncontroverted evidence. We sustain appellants’ above contentions and reverse and render as hereinafter stated.

Prudential issued a credit-life insurance certificate to Willis Beaty, deceased, the husband of appellee, in connection with the purchase by Mr. Beaty and appellee of a new 1967 automobile from Nehls Chevrolet in Marshall, Texas, on or about January 21, 1967. This type certificate of credit-life insurance required the insurer to pay the balance due on the new car if the insured died before paying for the automobile. Appellee took the sales contract and application for credit-life insurance to East Texas Tuberculosis Hospital in Tyler, Texas, where the deceased-insured had been hospitalized since November 6, 1966. Mr. Beaty, from his hospital bed, after reading the application and other papers, signed the application for insurance, which application for insurance contained the following “good health” representation:

“I, the purchaser proposed for life insurance in order to induce Prudential to effect such insurance, do hereby declare to the best of my knowledge and belief I am now in good health.”

Two days later, on Jan. 23, 1967, the application and conditional sales contract were returned by appellee to Nehls Chevrolet where said papers were signed by Mr. Brown, agent of Nehls Chevrolet. On January 23, 1967, Mr. Willis Beaty was transferred from East Texas Tuberculosis Hospital to Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas, with appellee accompanying her husband to Parkland Hospital after leaving the insurance application and conditional sales contract at Nehls Chevrolet. Three weeks later, on February 14, 1967, Mr. Beaty died in Parkland Hospital, with the immediate cause of death being “constrictive pericarditis” due to tuberculosis. Mr. Beaty has not worked since 1963, and had a long history of tuberculosis and pericar-ditis, the first positive diagnosis of tuberculosis having been made in 1964.

Prudential, after Mr. Beaty’s death, and his long history of illness together with the seriousness of his illness when Mr. Beaty executed the application containing the “good health” representation, denied liability and tender and restoration was given the insured for the amount of the premium.

The conditional sales contract on the automobile in question showed a trade-in down payment of $250.00, with an item of $29.29 for credit insurance charged, along with other items, and the total of the time deferred balance to be paid on the car was $2,753.92, and was payable in 36 monthly installments of $76.22, with the first installment being due on March 5, 1967. Mr. Beaty died on February 14, 1967, which was prior to March 5, 1967, the due date of the first payment, and such date of death was about 3 weeks after January 21, 1967, when he signed the application for insurance containing the “good health” representation.

The focal point on this appeal is whether under the undisputed facts Willis Beaty knew and was charged with knowledge that he was not in “good health” when he signed the insurance application. All of the other elements of the misrepresentation defense were unquestionably established by the undisputed facts.

[167]*167There was no controversy that Mr. Beaty made the “good health” representation. The application with the “good health” declaration was shown to have been executed by Mr. Beaty and the same was introduced in evidence. The jury found that the “good health” representation was false, and such finding was supported by the undisputed evidence, as hereinafter discussed. We think the undisputed evidence shows (that contrary to the jury’s finding) that Mr. Beaty knew and was charged with knowledge that such “good health” representation was false, as hereinafter more fully discussed.

The application itself expressly stated that the purpose of the representation of “good health” was to induce Prudential to issue the policy in question. Since the application itself expressly stated that the purpose of the representation was to induce issuance of the policy there was no need to submit and secure a finding as to the purpose of the representation, it having already been conclusively established. In this connection see Inter-Ocean Ins. Co. v.

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Estate of Diggs v. Enterprise Life Insurance Co.
646 S.W.2d 573 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1982)

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Bluebook (online)
456 S.W.2d 164, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 2431, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/prudential-insurance-co-of-america-v-beaty-texapp-1970.