Guardian Life Ins. Co. of America v. Katz

• Decision Date: 07 January 1936
• Citation: 200 N.E. 29,269 N.Y. 625
• Parties: GUARDIAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA, Respondent, v. Isidore KATZ, Appellant.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

269 N.Y. 625

200 N.E. 29

GUARDIAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA, Respondent,

v.Isidore KATZ, Appellant.

Court of Appeals of New York.

Jan. 7, 1936.

Appeal from a judgment, entered January 2, 1935, upon an order of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the First Judicial Department (243 App.Div. 11, 275 N.Y.S. 743), which reversed a judgment in favor of defendant upon his counterclaim, entered upon a decision of the court on trial at Special Term, and directed judgment, upon new findings, in favor of plaintiff for the relief demanded in the complaint. The action was in equity to rescind and cancel a supplemental agreement annexed to a policy of life insurance issued by plaintiff on March 18, 1930, upon the life of defendant. This agreement provided for the payment of disability benefits by plaintiff under certain conditions set forth in the policy, and rescission was sought on the ground that false and fraudulent statements had been made by defendant in procuring the issuance of such insurance contract. In his application for the policy the defendant made the following representations: (1) That he had never applied for insurance of any kind without having received a policy of the exact kind and amount applied for; (2) that he had never been examined for or applied to any company for insurance without having received a policy of the exact kind and amount applied for; and (3) that he had been last examined for insurance, either formally or informally, in 1927. There was proof that defendant on December 31, 1929, applied for a $10,000 policy of life insurance in another insurance company; that he was then examined by two doctors; that on January 16, 1930, a medical examiner of such company examined defendant and reported that the defendant said that he had had a cold for about a week; and that on January 30, 1930, another doctor also examined defendant for such insurance company and found him suffering from acute bronchitis and acute rhinitis. The defendant testified that no completed examination was had for insurance in such other company; that he was not informed at any time that his application had been rejected by that company; that, after having been examined by a physician of that company on two occasions, he was asked to present himself for further examination; that he told an agent of that company who brought this communication to him that he did not want to be bothered any further about the matter; that he did...