Sanders v. Universal Life & Accident Ins. Co.

74 S.W.2d 301, 1934 Tex. App. LEXIS 823
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 26, 1934
DocketNo. 3050.
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 74 S.W.2d 301 (Sanders v. Universal Life & Accident Ins. Co.) 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
Sanders v. Universal Life & Accident Ins. Co., 74 S.W.2d 301, 1934 Tex. App. LEXIS 823 (Tex. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

WALTHALL, Justice.

The prosecution of this appeal grows out of the action' of the trial court in sustaining a general demurrer to appellee’s petition and dismissing her suit.

We will designate the parties, respectively, as appellant andi appellee.

Appellant’s second amended original petition, upon which the case went to trial, is lengthy, and without copying it here at length, we will state it sufficiently to make clear the point or points to be decided on this appeal.

■Appellant’s petition states her cause of action in paragraphs numbered from 1 to 10, but in stating the facts pleaded we will not observe the -numbers.

The suit was brought by appellant, a feme sole, in the 101st judicial district of Dallas county, Tex., against the appellee, the Universal Life & Accident Insurance Company, a life, health, and accident insurance corporation, to recover upon an alleged breach of ap-pellee’s policy or contract of insurance. It is alleged that said Insurance Company on the 26th day of March, 1928, on the payment of the required premiums, issued to appellant its contract or policy of insurance in writing and therein and thereby insured appellant against sickness, death, and/or accident, said sickness and accident provision providing for the payment by appellant to ap-pellee of $6 per week from and after the date of disability or sickness; that thereafter, on or about the 8th day of December, 1932, appellant became totally disabled by reason and on account of sickness; that such sickness and confining illness continued from and after the 8th day of December, 1932, to and including the 24th day of December, 1932; that on or about the 22d day of January, 1933, appellant, by reason of sickness and bodily disability, became totally and permanently paralyzed and disabled, which total and permanent disability by reason of said paralysis has at all times since continued, and appellant alleges that the same will continue permanently and totally throughout the period of her natural life; that up to and including the date of appellant’s sickness and disability all the premiums! accrued, due, and payable upon *302 and under said policy or contract of insurance were and liad been duly, promptly, and fully paid to appellee, and tbat appellant in all things and respects adhered to and complied with the stipulations and provisions of said policy or contract of insurance; that within a reasonable time after her said disability, that is, on the 10th day of December, 1932, appellant duly advised appellee (appel-lee’s agents, naming them) of her said disability and duly requested and demanded of appellee (said agents) proofs of loss and/or sickness claim blanks for the puipose and with the intent of making and furnishing ap-pellee with due and proper proofs of loss; that appellant was advised by appellee’s said agents that claim blanks would be furnished promptly (the petition alleged repeated demands of said agent for the sickness claim blanks and was advised that same would be furnished); that as to each of said promises appellee failed and refused to adhere, and was then advised that appellee “refused to furnish same, and denied all liability in and under said policy or contract of insurance”; that at all times said agents (naming them) were duly authorized, empowered, and acting agents, servants, and employees of appellee and said transactions were within the actual and apparent scope of their authority, and with full and plenary power to so act for ap-pellee. Appellant alleged that on numerous days after the 12th day of December, 1932, she advised appellee’s collecting agent that she was disabled as alleged and requested of him to furnish her with proof of loss blanks for the purpose and with the intent of making proper proofs of loss, and that said agent failed and refused to furnish blanks, and that the furnishing of said blanks was within said agent’s actual and apparent scope of authority; that at all times when appellant made demand of said agents for said blanks she also made demand of said agents and each of them for the $6 due and payable to her-from and after the occurrence of her disability, but that said request and demand on each occasion were refused.

Appellant then alleged that by reason of ap-pellee’s refusal to furnish her the proof blanks, and appellee’s denial of all liability of, in, and under said policy or contract of insurance, appellee has waived the furnishing of due proof of loss and/or disability by appellant and is now estopped to interpose as a defense the failure of appellant to furnish ap-pellee such proof of loss.

The petition then alleges, in substance, that on the 14th day of December, 1932, and on January 23,1933, appellant verbally made demand upon appellee insurance company, through its agent, naming him, for the amount due and payable under the policy contract, but that appellee failed and refused and still fails and refuses to pay same or any part thereof, and that by reason thereof appellee is indebted to appellant for her damages to the extent and in the amount of such weekly installments at the rate of $6 per week for the period beginning December 8, and ending December 24, 1932, with interest, etc., to and including the date of the trial hereof, and for the amount of such installments at the rate of $6 per week for the period from and after the 22d day of January, 1933, to and including the date of the trial hereof, to the extent but not to exceed 26 weekly installments in one full year, with interest, etc., to the trial hereof; and for the additional sum of the then present value as of the date of the trial hereof, of all future installments of $6 per week from and after the date of the trial hereof to and including the period of her life expectancy to include but not to exceed 26 weekly installments in any one full year, said weekly installments of $6 each to be discounted at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum from the date of the trial hereof to the respective maturity dates of each of such weekly installments throughout the period of appellant’s life expectancy, which life expectancy is alleged to be 27 years from and after the 23d day of January, 1933, and based upon the American Experience Table of Mortality.

The petition then alleges that by reason and on account of appellee insurance company having denied all of its liability .“in and under said policy contract of insurance, and having failed and refused to adhere to and comply with the terms of said contract, or any part thereof, but in all things wholly and completely repudiated and breached each and all of the terms of said insurance contract, appellant is entitled to and here and now does now bring this one action to mature the entire. contract on the grounds of breach thereof, and is therefore entitled to recover herein in this one proceeding, by reason of such breach, her entire damage amounting to such weekly installments at the rate of $6.00' per week for the period from and after December 8th, to and including December 24th, 1932, with interest at the rate of 6% per annum on each of said weekly installments from the respective due dates thereof to and including the date of the trial hereof; and for the amount of such weekly installments at the rate of $6.00 pei* week for the period from and after the 22nd day of January, 1933, to and including the date of th’e trial hereof, to the extent, *303

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Bluebook (online)
74 S.W.2d 301, 1934 Tex. App. LEXIS 823, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sanders-v-universal-life-accident-ins-co-texapp-1934.