Anders v. Supreme Lodge, Knights of Honor
| Citation | 17 A. 119,51 N.J.L. 175 |
| Parties | ANDERS v. SUPREME LODGE, KNIGHTS OF HONOR. |
| Decision Date | 02 March 1889 |
| Court | New Jersey Supreme Court |
(Syllabus by the Court.)
Case certified from circuit court, Essex county; before Justice DEPUE.
Motion for new trial. Suit upon a life policy of insurance. The policy was stated to be "upon condition that the statements made by said member [the insured] in his petition for membership, and the statements made by him to the medical examiner, be made a part of this contract." One of the clauses of the statement subscribed to the answers of the applicant for insurance was in these words, viz.: "I certify that the answers made by me to the questions propounded by the medical examiner of Goethe Lodge," etc., etc., "convict me of having willfully made a misstatement, such statement shall be deemed evidence of fraud on my part, and shall, from date of such conviction, sever my connection with the order, and render all obligations of the Supreme Lodge to me null and void." The policy in suit was made by the Supreme Lodge. The defense was that one of the statements of the applicant for the insurance, to the medical examiner, was not true.
Abner Kalisch, for plaintiff. J. Frank Fort, for defendant.
BEASLEY, C. J., (after stating the facts as above.) The first question which has been certified to this court for its advisory opinion is whether the trial judge gave the proper construction and effect to the clause in the application made by Gottlieb Anders, the husband of the plaintiff, to the defendant for membership.
The clause in the application thus referred to is in the words following, viz.: "I certify that the answers made by me to the questions propounded by the medical examiner of Goethe Lodge, No. 1828, which are attached to this application, and form a part hereof, are true, in which there are no misrepresentations or suppression of known facts; and I acknowledge and agree that the above statement shall form the basis of the agreement with the Supreme Lodge, Knights of Honor, and constitute a warranty."
At the trial it was proved that one of the statements attached to the application was not true, and Mr. Justice DEPUE, who presided at the circuit, instructed the jury that such fact did not, proprio vigore, avoid the policy, but that to produce that result it must have been false to the knowledge of the applicant. This is the proposition the correctness of which is now challenged. But this court is of opinion that the construction adopted is the proper one. In the interpretation of warranties of this class the judicial leaning is invariably against a literal rendering of the stipulation; and in favor of...
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