The MacCabees v. Gann

34 S.W.2d 456, 182 Ark. 1141, 1931 Ark. LEXIS 115
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 19, 1931
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 34 S.W.2d 456 (The MacCabees v. Gann) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
The MacCabees v. Gann, 34 S.W.2d 456, 182 Ark. 1141, 1931 Ark. LEXIS 115 (Ark. 1931).

Opinion

Mehaeey, J.

This suit was begun by appellee to recover on two benefit certificates of $1,000 each issued on December 1, 1928, and April 1, 1929, upon the life of Opal Gann, and payable to appellee as husband of said Opal Gann. Opal Gann died on the 24th day of May, 1929, and prior to her death she had paid the assessments due upon said certificates which amounted to the sum of $13.80. The appellant filed answer in which it admitted the allegations of the complaint, but alleged that certain answers in the application of Opal Gann were warranties and were untrue.

One of the questions was No. 52 and was as follows:

“Q. Name all diseases or injuries for which you have consulted a physician for five years. A. None.”

The appellant alleged that the said Opal Gann signed and certified to said application in the following words: No. 66. “I hereby certify that I have carefully reviewed the answers to the above questions and warrant and agree that they are written as stated by me and are true in every particular”; that in the application for membership and for the second certificate the said Opal Gann, in answer to question No. 76 in said second application, stated as follows:

“Q. No. 76: I hereby certify that I have carefully reviewed the answers to the foregoing questions, 39 to 74, inclusive, and I warrant and agree that they are written as stated by me and are true in every particular, and that they supplement answers made upon my original and former examination or examinations in the Maccabees.”

Appellant further alleged that said applicant, Opal Gann, agreed to conform to the bylaws, rules, and usages of appellant’s society then in force or thereafter enacted, and the articles of association and laws of the Maccabees in force at her death together with her application and medical examination and certificate of membership shall form the basis and constitute her contract for beneficiary membership in the Maccabees; that any untrue statement or answer, or any concealment of facts in said application, would forfeit the rights of herself and beneficiary to benefits and privileges from appellant, that the said Opal Gann, in the application, when asked the question No. 52: “Q. Name all diseases or injuries for which you have consulted a physician within five years. A. None.”

Appellant states that these answers or statements were false and untrue, and that the appellant relied upon the truthfulness of them, that they were warranties, and that the benefit certificate sued on never did go in force and effect but was void.

Appellee filed a reply to this answer denying the allegations as to the warranties.

Appellant defended on the ground that the policies were void. It contends that the answers to the questions above set forth were warranties and were false. It calls attention to and relies on the case of Providence Life Assurance Society v. Reutlinger, 58 Ark. 528, 25 S. W. 835.

Appellant quotes from that case as follows: “As a general rule, a warranty is a stipulation expressly set out, or by inference incorporated, in the policy, whereby the assured agrees “that certain facts relating to the risk are or shall be true, or certain acts relating to the • same subject have been or shall be done.”

The court in that case, however, also said in speaking of warranties and representations: “When made to the insurer at or before the contract is entered into, they form a basis upon which the risks proposed to be assumed can be estimated. They operate as the inducement to the contract. Unlike a false warranty, they will not invalidate the contract, because they are untrue, unless they are material to the risks, and need only be substantially true. They' render the policy void on the ground of fraud, “while a noncompliance with a warranty operates as an express breach of the contract. * * * All reasonable doubts as to whether they be warranties or not should be resolved in favor of the assured.”

Appellant next calls attention to Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Johnson, 105 Ark. 101, 150 S. W. 393. In this case the court said: “The questions propounded in the application, as set out in the statement of facts, calls for answers founded on the knowledge or belief of the applicant, and in such cases a misrepresentation or omission to answer will not avoid the policy unless wilfully or knowingly made with an attempt to deceive. ’ ’

The answers in that case were somewhat like those in this case and the declaration of the applicant at the close was very similar to the answers and declaration in the instant case. It was stated in the application: “Every answer must ¡be true or the policy will be void.”

Next case relied on by appellant is Brotherhood of American Yeomen v. Fordham, 120 Ark. 605, 180 S. W. 206. In that case the court said:

“In the beneficiary certificate before us it was agreed that the answers onade to the medical examiner should be warranties, and that any false or untrue statement or answer should operate to forfeit the rights of the beneficiary. The evidence is undisputed that the insured had a severe attack of typhoid fever in the latter part of 1905 and that disease of the heart and other diseases often result therefrom. The court therefore should have directed a verdict in favor of the insurance association.”

The appellant next quotes from and relies on Bankers’ Reserve Life Co. v. Crowley, 171 Ark. 135, 284 S. W. 4. It quotes as follows:

“A noncompliance with a warranty operates as an express breach of the contract of insurance, while false representations render the policy void on the ground of fraud.” Immediately following this statement in the opinion is the following: “The questions propounded in the application as set out above call for answers founded on the knowledge or belief of the applicant, and a misrepresentation or omission will not avoid the policy unless wilfully or knowingly made with an intent to deceive. * * *
“Ip Mutual Aid Union v. Blacknall, 129 Ark. 450, 196 S. W. 792, it was held that knowledge affecting the rights of the insured, which comes to the agent of the insurance company while he is performing the duties of his agency in receiving applications for insurance and delivering policies, becomes the knowledge of the company; and the insurance company is bound thereby, where the ag’ent who solicited the business was charged with the duty of asking the applicant questions concerning his physical condition.”

In the instant case the questions as to whether the insured had consulted a physician or physicians was not asked; the question was: “Name all diseases or injuries for which you have consulted a physician within five years” and the answer written by the agent of the company was “None.”

The undisputed proof shows that this was not the answer, but that both Gann and Mrs. Gann told the agent about being injured from lifting' a piano.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
34 S.W.2d 456, 182 Ark. 1141, 1931 Ark. LEXIS 115, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-maccabees-v-gann-ark-1931.