de Guerrero v. John Hancock Mut. Life Ins. Co.
| Citation | 13 Fla. L. Weekly 867,522 So.2d 1032 |
| Decision Date | 05 April 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 87-2856,87-2856 |
| Parties | 13 Fla. L. Weekly 867 Graciela C. de GUERRERO, Appellant, v. JOHN HANCOCK MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, a foreign corporation, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Julio V. Arango, Coral Gables, for appellant.
Steel Hector and Davis and Jose I. Astigarraga and Norman Davis, Miami, for appellee.
Before HUBBART, NESBITT and FERGUSON, JJ.
The beneficiary of a life insurance policy appeals from a summary judgment entered in favor of the insurer. We affirm.
The deceased, Jorge de Guerrero, applied for a $200,000 life insurance policy with John Hancock. In response to a series of questions listed on the insurance application concerning his medical history, de Guerrero made several material misrepresentations. The following facts are uncontradicted: when asked whether he had seen a physician within the past five years de Guerrero disclosed only a check-up for insurance purposes when in truth he had several consultations with his physician who, just three weeks prior to the application for insurance, had diagnosed him as overweight and suffering from a goiter. When questioned about drug and alcohol use de Guerrero responded that he was not an alcoholic or user of drugs, when in fact he had been an active alcoholic since the age of sixteen and had been diagnosed an alcoholic by a physician from whom he sought treatment for his alcoholism, and to whom he also admitted that he used marijuana.
De Guerrero died within the two-year contestability period included in the policy.
The undisputed affidavits filed by the insurer state that had the deceased given the true facts the insurance policy would not have been issued, or would not have been issued on the same terms.
Section 627.409(1), Florida Statutes (1985), provides that a misrepresentation or omission in an insurance application precludes benefits under the policy in a number of different circumstances. 1 Here, the trial court found the misrepresentations to be material and that they undisputably affected the insurer's willingness to accept the risk or issue the policy on the same terms. Even an unintentional misstatement in an insurance application will preclude recovery where the misstatement materially affects the risk or the insurer's willingness to accept that risk on the agreed terms. Continental Assur. Co. v. Carroll, 485 So.2d 406 (Fla.1986); Shelby Life Ins. Co. v. Paolasini, 489 So.2d 89 (Fla. 3d DCA), rev. denied, 501 So.2d 1283 (Fla.1986).
Where the evidence is clear and uncontradicted the materiality of the misrepresentation shall be decided as a question of law. Carroll, 485 So.2d at...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Fernandez v. Bankers Nat. Life Ins. Co.
...life insurance application for the insured decedent were material to issuance of the policy.); de Guerrero v. John Hancock Mut. Life Ins. Co., 522 So.2d 1032 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1988) (per curiam) (Insured responded on insurance application that, within the past five years, he had seen a physi......
-
Mims v. Old Line Life Ins. Co. of America
...of risk that such misrepresentations are material as a matter of law. Kieser, 712 So.2d at 1264; de Guerrero v. John Hancock Mut. Life Ins. Co., 522 So.2d 1032, 1033 (3rd DCA 1988) (where insurer's affidavit established clear and uncontradicted evidence that misrepresentations were material......
-
Laboss Transp. Servs., Inc. v. Global Liberty Ins. Co. of N.Y.
...uncontradicted[,] the materiality of the misrepresentation shall be decided as a question of law." de Guerrero v. John Hancock Mut. Life Ins. Co. , 522 So.2d 1032, 1033 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988). "Materiality of a fact, in insurance law, is somewhat subjective and relates to what the fact reasonab......
-
National Union Fire Ins. v. Sahlen
...of law. Fernandez v. Bankers National Life Insurance Company, 906 F.2d 559, 566 (11th Cir.1990); deGuererro v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company, 522 So.2d 1032, 1033 (Fla. 3d DCA1988). In the instant case, National Union has presented undisputed evidence that the Liability Policy ......