Bell v. Missouri State Left Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 02 July 1912
• Citation: 166 Mo. App. 390,149 S.W. 33
• Parties: BELL v. MISSOURI STATE LIFE INS. CO.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

149 S.W. 33

166 Mo. App. 390

BELL v. MISSOURI STATE LIFE INS. CO.

St. Louis Court of Appeals. Missouri.

July 2, 1912.

Rehearing Denied July 19, 1912.

1. INSURANCE (§ 136) — LIFE INSURANCE — POLICY — VALIDITY.

A provision of a life insurance policy that It should not be effective or binding until delivered to and accepted by the insured while in good health was valid.

2. INSURANCE (§ 141) — LIFE INSURANCE — POLICY — WAIVER.

A provision of a life insurance policy that It should not be effective until delivered while the insured was in good health, being for the benefit of the insurer, could be waived by it or its agent authorized to do so.

3. INSURANCE (§ 136) — LIFE INSURANCE — POLICY — ACCEPTANCE.

Where insured paid his full first premium in advance, and directed the soliciting agent to deposit the policy in the agent's safe with insured's other private papers, his act in acquiescing in the policy being deposited in the safe upon being informed of its receipt by the agent was a sufficient acceptance under a provision of the policy that it should not be effective until accepted by the insured.

4. INSURANCE (§ 141) — LIFE INSURANCE — POLICY — ACCEPTANCE — DELIVERY.

Where a life insurance policy provides that it shall not be effective until delivery and acceptance while the insured is in good health, and the insurer waives the stipulation as regards delivery, the policy becomes effective upon its acceptance by the insured, though he is then in bad health.

5. INSURANCE (§ 142) — LIFE INSURANCE — POLICY — WAIVER — RATIFICATION.

Where the soliciting agent of a life insurance company delivered a policy to insured two days after he received injuries from which he died, and the insurer, after receiving proofs of death showing the insured to have met with the injury before the policy was mailed to the agent, delayed several months before offering to return the premium which it had received, it thereby ratified the acts of its agent; and the agent's waiver, by such delivery of a provision that the policy should not be effective until delivered to the insured while in good health, became the waiver of the insurer.

6. INSURANCE (§ 142) — LIFE INSURANCE — POLICY — RATIFICATION OF WAIVER — RECALL.

Where the act of the soliciting agent of a life insurance company in waiving a stipulation of the policy has been ratified by the insurer, the insurer cannot recall its ratification merely because of a change of opinion as to its rights in the premises.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Shelby County; Nat M. Shelton, Judge.

Action by Robert Bell, guardian and curator, against the Missouri State Life Insurance Company. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Jones, Jones, Hocker & Davis, of St. Louis, and Humphrey & Gose, of Shelbina, for appellant. V. L. Drain, of Shelbyville, and Jerry M. Jeffries, of Moberly, for respondent.

NORTONI, J.

This is a suit on a policy of life insurance. The finding and judgment were for plaintiff, and defendant prosecutes the appeal. Plaintiff, a minor, sues by her guardian.

The insured, plaintiff's brother, came to his death at Nogales, Ariz., from an injury received while working as a telegraph lineman. It appears that on July 17, 1909, the insured, Robert William Bell, made a written application to defendant for a policy of life insurance in the amount of $2,000, payable in event of death to his sister, Ruby Pearl Bell. The application was made through defendant's soliciting agents, Cummings & McIntyre, at Nogales, Ariz., to whom the first annual premium of $103.30 was then in hand paid. The application was forthwith transmitted to defendant by mail, and duly received by it at its home office in St. Louis, Mo., July 23, 1909. Two days after transmitting the application, defendant's agents deducted their commission and forwarded the balance of the first premium to defendant, which it received several days before the policy was issued. The application for the insurance contained the following stipulation: "I agree on behalf of myself and of any person who shall have or claim any interest in any policy issued under this application, as follows: * * * (7) That the insurance hereby applied for shall not take effect unless the premium is paid and the policy delivered to and accepted by me during my lifetime and good health," etc. On July 27, 1909, the application having been approved and duly accepted, defendant issued the policy here in suit, and transmitted it to the state insurance department at Jefferson City, Mo., for registration. After its registration and return to defendant, the policy was mailed by it on August 4, 1909, to Cummings & McIntyre, the soliciting agents at Nogales, Ariz., for delivery to the insured. At the time of making application therefor, and paying the premium to defendant's agents, the insured instructed them upon its arrival to deposit the policy for him in their safe along with other private papers of his kept therein. The insured was employed as a lineman in building and repairing telegraph lines in the vicinity of Nogales, and his duties enforced his absence from that place a considerable portion of the time. It is because of this that the arrangement was made for defendant's agents to receive and deposit the policy for him in their safe with his other private papers. The policy, having been mailed on August 4th by defendant to its agents at Nogales for delivery, was received by them on the morning of August 8, 1909. On August 6th, or two days before the policy was received by Cummings & McIntyre for delivery, a telegraph pole fell upon the insured, and inflicted a compound fracture of the thigh. Two or three days thereafter blood poison resulted from this injury, and the insured died during the night of August 11th. Defendant's soliciting agent, Cummings, who bad taken the application, testifies that he knew of plaintiff's injury on the evening of the day it was...