Recupito v. Inter-Ocean Insurance Co.

362 F. Supp. 577, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12388
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 7, 1973
DocketCiv. A. 71-1631
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 362 F. Supp. 577 (Recupito v. Inter-Ocean Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Recupito v. Inter-Ocean Insurance Co., 362 F. Supp. 577, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12388 (E.D. Pa. 1973).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BECHTLE, District Judge.

This matter is before us on the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment in an action in which recovery is sought for the face amount of a life insurance policy never issued by defendant.

Leonard J. Recupito, Jr. (“Recupito”) then 43 years of age, seeking to establish a ready cash estate to protect his family, consisting of his wife, two daughters and his parents, in the event of his untimely death, sought the assistance of Richard C. Bannon, C.L.U. (“Bannon”). Bannon was a licensed insurance broker and a licensed life insurance agent, employed by Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company as an authorized agent to sell, group life insurance on its behalf. He was also a special employee of Alden-Levine Associates, 1845 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bannon recommended that Recupito obtain $200,000 of life insurance instead of the $100,000 coverage sought by him. Since another company had declined to insure Recupito, Bannon recommended, among others, the defendant, an insurance company which specializes in insuring the lives of people who do not meet the qualifications of standard underwriting. In response to Bannon’s inquiry through Alden-Levine Associates, an authorized agency for defendant, defendant sent a document dated January 8, 1971, through the mail known as a “Tentative Quote” indicating that it was interested in issuing a five-year renewable convertible policy in the maximum face amount of $200,000 on the life of Recupito, the premium to be determined from standard Table 2 rates. The quote was made dependent upon receipt by defendant of a formal application, medical examination report, an electrocardiogram (“EKG”) recording, an X-ray, *578 home office specimen, and an “inspection report” (i.e., a credit rating report).

On Wednesday, January 13, 1971, Recupito, as the proposed insured, signed Part I of two applications, each for $100,000 of five-year renewable convertible term life insurance. Each was addressed to defendant and showed that a premium of $57.28 was to be charged on a monthly basis. The amount was at the standard rate and was selected by Bannon on the assumption that Recupito would qualify for that rate instead of a higher one. Part I of each application was dated at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 13, 1971, by Bannon and signed by him as a witness for Alden-Levine Associates. The first application was for a policy to be obtained by Recupito naming his parents as beneficiaries; the other for a policy to be obtained by his wife on which she was named beneficiary. On the same day, a medical doctor selected by defendant, after interrogating and examining Recupito, filled out Part II (“Answers made to the medical examiner” by the proposed insured) and Part III (“Medical examiner’s report”) of each application. In Part III, the doctor reported that his overall estimate of Recupito’s health was “First Class,” in contrast to “Good,” “Fair,” or “Poor.”

Part I of each application, in pertinent part, provided: “It is Hereby Agreed that the insurance applied for shall not be in effect until the issuance and delivery of the policy and the payment of the first premium thereon while the Proposed Insured . . . [is] in sound' health, except as may be provided in the Conditional First Premium Receipt detached herefrom [Part /] and issued if the premium be paid in advance . . .” (Italics supplied.)

The conditional receipt, the insurability determination type, referred to in each application is in the following form:

"CONDITIONAL FIRST PREMIUM RECEIPT
"Received from the sum of $ which Is the amount shown In Item 23 of Part I of the application to Inter-Ocean Insurance Company bearing the same date as this receipt. This payment Is received subject to the agreements contained in Part I of the Application, and the terms and conditions printed on the reverse side hereof. Any remittance not In cash Is received subject to actual cash payment.
Dated at _ this _ day of City State __ 19_
Soliciting Agent" (Italics supplied.)

The reverse side set forth, inter alia, that the insurance applied for shall be in force as of the date of death of the proposed insured provided he is insurable on the date of the application as a standard risk in accordance with the practice of the company governing the acceptance of risks for the plan and amount of insurance applied for at the company’s published premium rate for his classification of risk. 1

*579 After receiving a check from Reeupito for $57.28 made out to the defendant, Bannon filled in the blank spaces of the Conditional First Premium Receipt, dated it January 13, 1971, signed it, detached it from Part I of the first application, and placed it in Recupito’s file kept at Bannon’s office.

Because Recupito’s wife was not present and it was late in the day (between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m.) and Bannon was ready to leave on a trip to New England for the remainder of the week, he instructed Reeupito to take Part I of the second application (the one in which his wife was named as the proposed beneficiary), have her -sign it on a line marked by an “X” indicating the place for the signature of the applicant or the proposed owner, have her make out a check of $57.28 to defendant for the first monthly premium, and mail the application and her check to his office at 1845 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For that purpose, he supplied an envelope with his name and office address printed on it. He did not execute or detach the Conditional First Premium Receipt from Part I of the application.

Two days later, on Friday, January 15, 1971, Recupito’s wife signed Part I of the second application at the place indicated by an “X,” made out her personal check to defendant for $57.28, placed them in an envelope, and gave it to her daughter to mail. According to the daughter’s affidavit, she deposited the self-addressed return envelope to Ban-non in a mailbox in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, on Friday, January 15, 1971, at ápproximately 4:00 p.m. The scheduled pickup for mail at the mailbox in which she deposited the envelope was as follows: (1) Daily (except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays): 9:00. a.m. and 4:00 p.m.; and, (2) Saturdays: 9:00 a.m.; and, (3) Sundays: 1:00p.m.

On Sunday, January 17, 1971, at approximately 4:30 p.m., Reeupito was killed in an automobile accident on Route 202 in the Borough of Tredyffrin, Chester County, Pennsylvania.

On the morning of the next day, while Bannon was at his home preparing to go to his office, he heard on the radio that Lincoln R. Kimberly was killed in á car accident. Lincoln Kimberly was an alias used by Reeupito of which Bannon was aware. When he reached his office, Bannon called the radio station to confirm the report and the name of the person killed. He was not certain whether he did this before or after he opened the envelope mailed by Reeupito’s daughter and removed its contents. The envelope was postmarked “Upper Darby, Pa. Jan. 17, P.M.,” 2

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Related

Griffin v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co.
104 P.3d 283 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2005)
Recupito v. Inter-Ocean Insurance Co
492 F.2d 1238 (Third Circuit, 1974)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
362 F. Supp. 577, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12388, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/recupito-v-inter-ocean-insurance-co-paed-1973.