Arnhorst v. Nat'l Union

• Decision Date: 17 April 1899
• Citation: 179 Ill. 486,53 N.E. 988
• Parties: ARNHORST v. NATIONAL UNION.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

179 Ill. 486

53 N.E. 988

ARNHORST

v.NATIONAL UNION.¹

Supreme Court of Illinois.

April 17, 1899.

Appeal from appellate court, First district.

Bill by the National Union against Margareth Arnhorst and another to cancel a certificate of insurance. From a judgment of the appellate court reversing a judgment dismissing the bill (74 Ill. App. 482) defendant Margareth Arnhorst appeals. Reversed.

Carlos J. Ward, for appellant.

Chas. J. Kavanagh, for appellee.

CARTER, C. J.

On Ddecember 23, 1896,

On December 23, 1896, in the superior court of Cook county to cancel a certificate of membership issued May 16, 1895, to Joseph V. Arnhorst for $5,000, payable to his wife, the appellant, upon his death. Arnhorst answered the bill, and gave his deposition in the case, and died soon after, about January 25, 1897. After his death the appellant, the beneficiary, filed her answer, and upon a hearing the chancellor dismissed the bill. On appeal the appellate court reversed the decree, and remanded the cause, with directions to enter a decree canceling the certificate as prayed in the bill. The case is before us on appeal by the beneficiary, Margareth Arnhorst.

In his application for the certificate, which was made a part of the contract, the insured agreed that any untrue statement made by him to the medical examiner, or any concealment of facts by him in his application in regard to his health, habits, or circumstances, should forfeit his rights, and those of his beneficiary. The bill, as originally filed, charged Arnhorst with fraud, and also charged a fraudulent conspiracy between him and his beneficiary in obtaining the certificate; but by amendment the substance of the charge in the bill was that Arnhorst made untrue answers to the medical examiner of the association, and concealed material facts in regard to his health and physical condition, thereby rendering his certificate null and void, and praying that it should be so declared. The alleged untrue statements to the medical examiner, and concealment, charged in the bill, were that he gave untrue answers to the following questions printed in his application: ‘When did you last consult a physician?’ ‘What for?’ ‘Give name and address of physician.’ ‘Is there anything, to your knowledge or belief, in your physical condition, family or personal history, or habits, tending to shorten your life, which is not distinctly set forth above?’ Preceding this last question and following the first three above set out there were upwards of four dozen specific diseases set out in the application, and he was asked whether he was subject to or had ever had any of them, and to each question he answered ‘No,’ except as to bronchitis, to which question he answered ‘Yes,’ and it is not claimed that any of these answers were untrue. The evidence shows that he had bronchitis, and had been treated for it, as stated in his application. But his answer as written by the medical examiner, in his application, to the question, ‘When did you last consult a physician?’ was, ‘Four and a half years ago,’ and to the question, ‘What for?’ the answer was, ‘Acute bronchitis; two weeks ill; good recovery,’ and gave the name of Dr. McClelland as the physician; and to the other of said questions the answer was ‘No.’ This application was dated May 1, 1895, and the certificate was issued the same month, and Arnhorst died January 25, 1897, of a cancerous affection of the liver and lower intestines, which, as the medical testimony showed, was caused by gallstones in the duct of the gall bladder, and had existed less than a year,-that is, seven or eight months. He answered ‘No’ in his application to the specific question whether or not he was subject to or had cancer or any tumor, and it is not claimed that this answer was untrue, but its truth is supported by the evidence. Nor is it denied that Dr. McClelland treated him for bronchitis. But, treating the answers and questions above set out as material, the question is presented whether or not the evidence justified the trial court in finding that the allegations of the bill were not sustained, and in dismissing the bill. The deposition of the insured, taken shortly before his death, states that he told the medical examiner, in answer to the question when he last consulted a physician, that he had...