Clemans v. Supreme Assembly Royal Soc'y of Good-Fellows
| Citation | 30 N.E. 496,131 N.Y. 485 |
| Parties | CLEMANS v. SUPREME ASSEMBLY ROYAL SOCIETY OF GOOD-FELLOWS. |
| Decision Date | 15 March 1892 |
| Court | New York Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from supreme court, general term, second department.
Action by Mary Clemans against the Society of Good-Fellows upon a certificate of insurance issued by defendant to Patrick Durnin, husband of plaintiff. From a judgment of the general term, affirming a judgment of the special term in favor of plaintiff, defendant appeals. Reversed.S. M. Lindsley
, for appellant.
C. Morschauser, for respondent.
The uncontradicted evidence in this case clearly showed that the assured, just prior to June 20, 1887, applied for insurance, by means of a written application signed by him, to the Prudential Life Insurance Company of America, and on that date his application was rejected by that company. The learned court found that the assured made no false statements in his application for insurance to the company defendant. In such lastmentioned application he stated, in answer to questions asked therein, that he had applied to another insurance company for insurance, but had not been rejected. That this answer was false cannot be disputed, upon the uncontradicted evidence. The application, and the answers thereto, were part of the contract of insurance, and were made so by the certificate. The answer was a warranty, and upon this evidence there was a breach thereof. Foot v. Insurance Co., 61 N. Y. 571;Cushman v. Insurance Co., 63 N. Y. 404. It is not important that the party making the warranty really believed in its entire truth. If it be false, it avoids the contract. Nor does the mere knowledge of the agent of the company, at the time when it is made, that the warranty is false, prevent the defendant from setting up the breach as a defense to the action on the policy. Id.; Barteau v. Insurance Co., 67 N. Y. 595. The finding of the learned trial judge that the application of the assured to the Prudential Life Insurance Company was withdrawn was not supported by any evidence, as we think, while the finding that the facts were within the personal knowledge of the agent Jacobs, who procured this insurance, furnishes no answer to this charge of breach of warranty. Mere knowledge of the falsity is not, as we have seen, enough to prevent the defense from being set up. There is, as we think, sufficient evidence in this case to permit a jury to find that the agent of the defendant fraudulently concealed from the assured the fact that he...
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