Columbian Nat. Life Ins. Co. v. Rodgers
| Decision Date | 03 February 1941 |
| Docket Number | No. 2131.,2131. |
| Parties | COLUMBIAN NAT. LIFE INS. CO. OF BOSTON, MASS., v. RODGERS. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Bailey Aldrich, of Boston, Mass. (Richard S. Righter, of Kansas City, Mo., and F. H. Nash, of Boston, Mass., on the brief), for appellant.
Roy L. Hamilton, of Beloit, Kan. (Robert L. Webb, of Topeka, Kan., on the brief), for appellee.
Before BRATTON and MURRAH, Circuit Judges, and KENNAMER, District Judge.
This appeal is from a judgment against appellant, for the sum of $10,000, with interest, in favor of Lena M. Rodgers, a designated beneficiary in a policy of insurance issued by The Columbian National Life Insurance Company, on the life of Paul W. Rodgers. This is the second appeal to this court upon the controversy, the first trial resulting in a similar judgment, with an appeal, and a reversal of the judgment by this court, and a remanding of the same to the District Court with instructions to grant a new trial. 10 Cir., 93 F.2d 740. The facts involved herein are set out in the earlier opinion of this court. Upon the second trial, additional evidence was submitted in support of plaintiff's claim, and we are here concerned only with one issue.
The insurance company defended upon the proposition that the insured had made false and fraudulent representations of fact, which were material to the risk, in answers to questions in the application for the policy. The untrue answers were submitted in response to questions as to whether the insured had ever been declined insurance upon any other application. The evidence disclosed in the earlier trial, as well as in the instant record, that the insured had applied to the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company of Boston, Massachusetts, for a policy of life insurance for $5,000, and that the John Hancock Company had declined the application and had never issued a policy thereon. Plaintiff contends that the insurance company is estopped to assert that it was without knowledge concerning the facts involved in the unsuccessful application of the insured to obtain a life insurance policy from the John Hancock Company, and submitted evidence in support thereof. The only question involved is whether the insurance company was possessed of facts concerning the subject, or might have ascertained the true facts by further investigation, having been put upon inquiry by information before it when it issued the policy sued on herein. A brief summary of the additional evidence is essential to a determination of the issue.
There is an association or reporting system that gives information to life insurance companies, called "The Medical Information Bureau", located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is composed of medical directors of life insurance companies. The Recording and Statistical Corporation distributes information concerning applicants for life insurance obtained by it from The Medical Information Bureau. Both the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company and The Columbian National Life Insurance Company have memberships in The Medical Information Bureau, and are subscribers to The Recording and Statistical Corporation. Each of the member companies is given a number, and the number is employed as a part of a code used in supplying information to the members. The John Hancock Company has been designated as number "8", and after it declined the issuance of the life insurance policy to the insured, Paul W. Rodgers, information was submitted to the members of the Bureau, advising that Company number 8, which is the John Hancock Company, had an application from Paul W. Rodgers, describing him as a dentist, and giving the date of his birth and the place of his birth. The information submitted did not inform the members that a policy had been declined Paul W. Rodgers, but imparted information that the applicant had applied to some other insurance company, which company had created a record against him. The evidence disclosed that the record might have meant a rejection, but did not necessarily do so; that it might have meant a medical impairment, or that a different rate had been fixed. The evidence conclusively shows that the card indicated that a...
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