Curd v. Travelers Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 24 May 1935
• Docket Number: 24301-24303.
• Citation: 180 S.E. 249,51 Ga.App. 306
• Parties: CURD v. TRAVELERS INS. CO. (three cases).
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

180 S.E. 249

51 Ga.App. 306

CURD v. TRAVELERS INS. CO. (three cases).

Nos. 24301-24303.

Court of Appeals of Georgia, First Division

May 24, 1935

Syllabus by the Court.

Under the undisputed evidence adduced upon the trial in each of these cases, the plaintiff could not legally recover, and in each case the court did not err in directing a verdict for the defendant, or thereafter in overruling the motion for a new trial.

Error from Superior Court, Walker County; James Maddox, Judge.

Three suits by Mose Curd against the Travelers Insurance Company. Judgments for defendant, plaintiff's motion for a new trial was in each case overruled, and plaintiff brings error.

Affirmed.

Jones & Neighbors, of Rossville, and F. M. Gleason, of Rossville, for plaintiff in error.

Finlay & Campbell, of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Maddox, Matthews & Owens, of Rome, for defendant in error.

BROYLES Chief Judge (after stating the foregoing facts.)

The evidence shows that the Peerless Woolen Mills was the assured, was the party who contracted with the defendant company, and the party who paid for the insurance; that under the contract, only employees of the Peerless Woolen Mills could become beneficiaries of the insurance; that the assured notified the insurance company of what employees were covered by the insurance, when they became eligible to receive insurance by virtue of employment, and when their services terminated. This was the only method provided for the insurance company to get its record of whom the assured wished to insure, whom the assured had employed, when their employment began and when it terminated, and on that record the insurance certificates were issued and canceled. The employee, in accepting the insurance, had full knowledge of this, because his certificate provided that "this contract shall remain in force until the assured shall notify the company to terminate the insurance as to such employee." (Italics ours.) There is some conflict in the evidence as to the period of the plaintiff's service for the Peerless Woolen Mills; but the evidence is undisputed that the assured (the mill) notified the insurance company that the plaintiff finally left the company on May 2 1932, and the assured did not remit to the company any premium for his insurance after that date. The insurance company was bound to act in accordance with the notice furnished by the assured, the other party to the contract and the one paying the premiums. Harold M. Adams testified that he was employed by the Travelers Insurance Company; that "all records of the Travelers Insurance Company pertaining to coverage extended, cancellation of insurance and insurance in force under group contracts or policies are in my control and in my custody"; that a group contract was issued to the Peerless Woolen Mills; that the insurance company required the employer to furnish a card called "registration card" for each employee eligible for insurance under the contract in order that the insurance company might have a record of the employees covered; that "the insurance in force as to any employee insured under a group contract such as G-728, terminates automatically in accordance with the contract provisions. In order that the files of the insurance company may represent at all times a complete record of the employees covered, we require that the employer report to the Travelers Insurance Company at regular intervals the names of those employees whose insurance has terminated. * * * The insurance of any employee covered thereunder shall end when his employment with the assured shall end, except in a case where at the time of such termination the employee was wholly disabled"; that when an employee leaves the employment of the assured, the employer enters a notation on his card showing the reason for the termination of his insurance; that the symbol "L. C." means ""Left Company"; that the files of the company showed that insurance certificate No. 662 was assigned to plaintiff as of September 26, 1924, and that plaintiff was covered continuously until May 22, 1926, and that the reason for the termination of the insurance was the termination of his employment, as shown by the symbol L. C. posted on the card in red ink; that the plaintiff had a second card showing that he was reemployed August 2, 1926, and certificate No. 926 was issued on February 25, 1927; that "the reason for issuing a new certificate was because insurance as evidenced by certificate No. 662 had terminated and, therefore, certificate No. 662 was null and void. Under certificate No. 926 Mose Curd was treated in every respect as though he had never been previously insured as the terms of Group Contract G-728 so provide"; that the coverage under No. 926 terminated July 13, 1930, "because the employee had terminated employment"; that the registration card showed that a third certificate, No. 1480, was issued to plaintiff on March 2, 1931, and was in force until May 2, 1932, when it terminated "because Mose Curd's employment terminated as of that date." The registration card showing the record of each of these certificates was introduced in evidence, and at the bottom of the card was the following: "Group insurance record card. Notice of termination of insurance is given by sending this card with reason and date of termination of insurance filled in, to the Travelers Insurance Co., Group Dept., Hartford, Conn. * * *" In addition, the defendant company introduced the following letter in reference to the last certificate in force:

"Letter from Peerless Woolen Mills to H. E. Critchfield, Secretary, Travelers Insurance Company, Hartford, Connecticut, dated June 3, 1932, with reference to Group Policy G-728, as follows: We are enclosing herewith record cards for the following:

Name Certificate No.

Mose Curd 1480

(Other names are listed)

Kindly cancel these policies, as these parties are no longer in our employ. Several of the dates of cancellation are rather far back, but this is due to holding open the policies in case of long sickness, etc. Signed Peerless Woolen Mills, H. M. McCulloch, Treasurer."

Other records were introduced...