Prudential Insurance v. Chestnut

68 S.E. 952, 8 Ga. App. 246, 1910 Ga. App. LEXIS 122
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedSeptember 20, 1910
Docket2296
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 68 S.E. 952 (Prudential Insurance v. Chestnut) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Prudential Insurance v. Chestnut, 68 S.E. 952, 8 Ga. App. 246, 1910 Ga. App. LEXIS 122 (Ga. Ct. App. 1910).

Opinion

Eussell, J.

We see no error in the judgment overruling the demurrer of the insurance company. By the demurrer, it is insisted that the plaintiff’s petition fails to set forth a cause of action, because it is apparent, from the contract of insurance attached to the petition, that the policy had lapsed. From an examination of the policy it appears that this is a contract by which the Prudential Insurance Company undertook to insure the joint lives of Thomas E. Chestnut and Euby Valentipe 'Chestnut, the amount of the policy being payable to the survivor. The petition alleges, that all of the premiums were paid in quarterly instalments, and that the petitioner (Thomas E. Chestnut) paid to the defendant the premiums for two years and six months, and that all premiums due and payable upon the policy up to and including'December 21, 1908, were paid. The petitioner, therefore, sets up that by the operation of the policy it was extended for 331 days from December 21, 1908,' and that the extended insurance was in force at the time of the death of Euby Valentine Chestnut, the insured, July 8, 1909.

In support of its .contention that the policy had lapsed, the insurance company insists that the paid-up joint life policy provided for by the contract, in the form of extended insurance, applies only after the policy has been in force three full years, there being in the policy a stipulation as follows: If this policy, after being in force three full years, shall lapse or become forfeited- for the non-payment of an}r premium on the date when due as specified on the first page hereof, or of any note given for a premium or loan made in cash on such policy as security, or of any interest on such. note or loan, it may be surrendered for a non-participating paid-up joint life policy as specified in the following table, provided the policy be legally surrendered to the company within three months after the date on which premiums have been duly paid. If this policy, having lapsed or become forfeited as above, be not surrendered for a paid-up joint life policy, the company will write in lieu of this policy loithout any action on the part of the insured, a non-participating paid-up joint term policy for the full amount insured by this policy. Such paid-up joint term policy to be dated on the day to which premiums have been duly paid, and to continue in force for the 'term indicated by the following table.

It is insisted by counsel for the plaintiff in error, that the provisions in the policy clearly indicate that the paid-up joint life [248]*248■policy shall apply only after the policy has been in force three full years. The plaintiff in error attempts to avoid the provisions contained in a table providing for cash loan values, paid-up joint life policy values, extended insurance values, and cash surrender values, headed “Privileges,” by pointing out that there is no cash loan privilege or joint life policy, nor any cash surrender value as a privilege, until the end of three years, and that though there is a privilege given for extended insurance of 60 days at the end of one year, and of 120 days -at the end of two years, these privileges must be construed as special privileges subject to and conditional upon the language under the heading of “Special privileges,” to wit: “Policy non-forfeitable after the first year’s premium has been paid. If this policy, after being in force one full year, shall lapse for non-payment of premium, the company will continue in force the insurance under the policy for a period of 60 days from the due date of such premium as specified on the first page hereof. If this policy, after being in force two full years, shall lapse for non-payment of premium, the company will continue in force the insurance under the policy for 120 days from the due date of such premium; provided, however, that if the death of either of the insured shall occur during the period of continued insurance herein defined, there shall be deducted from the amount payable by the company any premium that would have become due on this policy up to the time of such death, if the policy had been continued in force. After the policy has been in force for three or more years, the above privilege, ‘Paid-up joint life policy or extended insurance,’ will apply.” It is insisted that this clause shows that the 60 days and 120 days extended insurance named in the table “is not to be considered as extended insurance under the policy, but as spe'cial privilege agreed to by the company under the policy.” We think this is a distinction without a difference; because the plaintiff’s right is the-same whether the stipulation above quoted is to be considered as an ■ extended insurance value under the policy, or as a special privilege, provided it is likewise included in the policy. Whether the extended insurance is a special or a general privilege, it is very plain, from the provisions of the policy, together with the statement of the plaintiff’s petition, that the premiums were payable quarterly, that the holder of the policy had a right to extended insurance when he had paid the premiums for one year and for two years, and we fail [249]*249to see why he would not have the same right merely because he had paid two years and a half instead of two years. In fact, the policy .itself provides that “if the premiums on this policy be paid in quarterly or semi-annual instalments, due allowance will be made, in computing benefits from the above table, for that portion of a year’s premium paid over and above the full number of years’ premiums indicated.”

The insistence of the defendant in' error is that, under this latter clause, he is entitled to extended insurance, based upon the additional extended insurance to which he would be entitled when the policy -was two and a half years- old over what extended insurance he would be entitled to when the policy was two years old. The plaintiff seems to have reached the extent of his extended insurance as claimed in his petition, by deducting, from the duration of extended insurance to which he would have been entitled if the premiums for three full years had been paid, the 120 days of extended insurance allowed for the payment of the first two years’ premiums, and dividing the difference by two. The amount of the extended insurance if the premiums had been paid for three years would be 542 days; the extended insurance for the two years is 120 days; the difference is 422 days; and the half which would be apportioned for the premiums paid for the additional six months would be 211 days, which would extend the policj1- from December 21, 1908, to a date beyond July 8, 1909, when Mrs. Chestnut, the insured, died.

We need not decide whether the judgment overruling the demurrer can be sustained by the method upon which the plaintiff bases his calculations as to the duration of the extended insurance. There is no difficulty whatever in determining that the policy had not lapsed; when the allegations of the petition that the payments were paid quarterly, and that the premium due December 21, 1908, was paid, are construed with other clauses of the contract. . It must be remembered that the contract was prepared by the- insurance company, and is to be at least reasonably construed in favor of the insured. Where there are any conflicting provisions which render the real intent of the parties doubtful, public policy requires that the construction placed upon the policy shall be that which is most favorable to the insured. And every part of the contract will be considered in connection with every other part, in an effort to reach the true intent of the parties in making the contract. . Cer[250]

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Related

United Benefit Life &C. Ins. Co. v. Glisson
123 S.E.2d 350 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1961)
National Life & Accident Ins. v. Craig
251 F. 524 (Sixth Circuit, 1918)
Prudential Insurance v. Chestnut
72 S.E. 170 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1911)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
68 S.E. 952, 8 Ga. App. 246, 1910 Ga. App. LEXIS 122, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/prudential-insurance-v-chestnut-gactapp-1910.