Stillman v. Ætna Life Ins.

240 F. 462, 1917 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1384
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Iowa
DecidedMarch 14, 1917
DocketNo. 147
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 240 F. 462 (Stillman v. Ætna Life Ins.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stillman v. Ætna Life Ins., 240 F. 462, 1917 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1384 (N.D. Iowa 1917).

Opinion

REED, District Judge

(after stating the facts as above). The principal defense relied upon by the defendant is that the alleged failure of the plaintiff to answer the questions in the schedule of warranties Nos. 11, 13, and 19, indorsed upon the policies, except as indicated in such answers, invalidates all claims under each of the policies.

[1] There is no dispute that plaintiff on April 14, 1915, while both policies, if valid, were in force, suffered an injury, whereby through [466]*466•external, violent, and accidental means which alone totally destroyed the sight of his left eye, and unless he is barred by some provision of the policy he is entitled to recover from the defendant the sum specified therefor in each of the' policies with interest thereon.

Certain provisions of the Iowa statute have a material bearing upon this question. In 1880, the Legislature of Iowa passed what are now sections 1741 and 1750 of the Code of Iowa (1897), which, read in this way:

“Sec. 1741. All insurance companies or associations sliall, upon tlie issue or renewal of any policy, attach, to such policy, or indorse thereon, a true copy of any application or representation of, the assured which, by the terms of such policy, a.re made a part thereof, or of the contract of insurance, or referred to therein, or which- may in any manner affect the validity of such policy. The omission so to do- shall not render the policy invalid, but if any ■company or association neglects to comply with the requirements of this section it shall forever be precluded from pleading, alleging or proving any such application or representations, or any part thereof, or falsity thereof, or any parts thereof, in any action upon such policy, and the plaintiff in any such action shall not be required, in order to recover against such company or association, either to plead or prove such application or representation, but may do so at Ms option.”
“Sec. 1750. The term ‘agent’ used in the foregoing sections of this chapter shall include any other person who shall in any manner directly or indirectly transact the insurance business for any insurance company complying with the, la.ws of this state. Any officer, agent or representative of an insurance company doing business in this state who may solicit insurance, procure applications, issue policies, adjust losses or transact the business generally of such companies, shall be held to be the agent of such insurance company with authority to transact all business within the scope of bis employment, anything in the application, policy, contract, by-laws or articles of incorporation of such company to the contrary notwithstanding.”

The stipulated facts show that J. W. Bell, a district^ agent of the defendant company at Council Bluffs, Iowa, solicited from the plain: tiff both of the policies in- suit, received from him the first annual premiums thereon, which policies were renewed by the payment to Bell of a second and third year’s premium upon Exhibit A, and a second year’s premium upon Exhibit B, for which proper receipts of the company were delivered by him to the plaintiff renewing said policies respectively for said years; but no copy of the applications was indorsed upon either of the policies for such renewals. ,

Under section 1741 of the Code above set out, unless the insurance company upon the issuance of these policies, or the renewals thereof, attached to said policies or renewals, or indorsed thereon, a true copy of the application or representations of the assured, the insurance company is forever precluded from claiming or proving any such warranties or representations to be untrue or false in an action upon such policies. As before stated, what purports to be a copy of the “schedule of warranties” is indorsed upon- each policy; but there is nothing to indicate that the application was ever signed by the plaintiff; nor is there anything to indicate by whom the alleged answers were made to such i of the interrogatories as appear to be answered. Is this a compliance with section 1741 of the Code? In Seiler v. Life Ass’n, 105 Iowa, 87, 74 N. W. 941, 43 L. R. A. 537, which was a suit upon life policies of insurance issued in Iowa after the passage of the above stat[467]*467ute, as here, what purported to be a copy of the application was set out or indorsed upon the policy, but the signature of the insured thereto was omittéd from such copy, and the trial court refused to permit the introduction in evidence of the application when offered by the defendant because not a compliance with section 1741 of the Iowa Code. There was a recovery by the plaintiff of the full amount of the policy, and this ruling was made the basis of an appeal. The Supreme Court of Iowa said of section 1741 of the Code:

“This section has been often construed. For a quite recent exposition of its meaning we refer to Goodwin v. [Provident Sav. Life Assur. Ass’n], 97 Iowa, 226 [66 N. W. 157, 32 L. R. A. 473, 59 Am. St. Rep. 411]. It is urged on behalf of the appellant that all of the statements and'representations made by the assured were in the copy that was attached to the policy, and that he could not have been prejudiced by the omission of his signature, for he must have known that he signed the original. But it seems to us that the very purpose of the statute was to avoid, so far as possible, any dispute as to the assured’s knowledge of the contract. The requirement is that a copy of the application shall be attached. We do not understand this to call for a fac simile, but it certainly demands at least a substantial reproduction of thé instrument. The signature is an essential part of the application, and all that is essential in the original should appear in thd copy. It will be noted that in the alleged copy it is not stated by whom the original is signed. ⅜ * * ‘We are 0f the opinion that the copy of the application attached to the policy, not having the copy of the name of the applicant appended thereto, cannot be said to be a copy of such application, within the meaning of the statute. The signature is the thing which gives force to the application, and, when signed with knowledge of its contents, is conclusive on the insured. We think that the signature of the party to an instrument which receives its vitality solely from such signature is such a substantial part of it that a copy of it must contain such signature.’ * * * The trial court was right in holding that the application in this case was no part of the contract, that the statements therein could not he given in evidence.”

The court cites with approval Dunbar v. Insurance Co., 72 Wis. 492, 40 N. W. 386, which arose under a statute of Wisconsin, the counterpart of section 1741, and where the signature of the assured was omitted from the copy attached to the policy.

In Continental Ins. Co. v. Chamberlain, 132 U. S. 304, 309, 10 Sup. Ct. 87, 33 L. Ed. 341, this construction of section 1741 of the Code of Iowa was approved; and it was also held that under section 1750 of that Code the agent who procured the insurance must be held to be the agent of the company, and the company chargeable with knowledge of such facts pertaining to the insurance that came to the knowledge of the agent when soliciting the same; Cook v. Federal Life Ass’n, 74 Iowa, 746, 748, 35 N. W. 500; Goodwin v. Assurance Ass’n, 97 Iowa, 226, 235, 66 N. W. 157, 32 L. R. A. 473, 59 Am. St. Rep. 411, above; Liquid Acid Co. v. Phœnix Ins. Co., 126 Iowa, 225, 229, 230, 101 N. W.

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Bluebook (online)
240 F. 462, 1917 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1384, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stillman-v-tna-life-ins-iand-1917.