Keeton v. Jefferson Standard Life Ins. Co.
Decision Date | 14 April 1925 |
Docket Number | 2329.,No. 2328,2328 |
Citation | 5 F.2d 183 |
Parties | KEETON v. JEFFERSON STANDARD LIFE INS. CO. SAME v. EQUITABLE LIFE ASSUR. SOC. OF THE UNITED STATES. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Frank T. Sutton, Jr., and M. J. Fulton, both of Richmond, Va. (John J. Wicker, Jr., and Fulton & Wicker, both of Richmond, Va., on the brief), for appellant.
Stuart G. Christian and Wyndham R. Meredith, both of Richmond, Va. (Brooks, Hines & Smith, of Greensboro, N. C., and Alexander & Green, of New York City, on the brief), for appellees.
Before WOODS, WADDILL, and ROSE, Circuit Judges.
These bills in equity were respectively filed by the appellee, the Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company, hereinafter called the Jefferson Company, in the first-named cause, and by appellee, Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, hereinafter called the Equitable Society, in the last-named cause, to set aside, cancel, vacate, and annul four certain life policies issued by appellees, for $5,000 each, two being issued by each company, on the life of Joseph S. Keeton.
The causes were heard together by consent, as the assured was the same in all the contracts, and the policies were issued about the same time; that is to say, by the Jefferson Company on the 29th of April, and by the Equitable Society on the 22d of May, 1921. The first-named policies were delivered June 21, 1921, and the last on the 27th of June, 1921. The assured, Joseph S. Keeton, died on the 26th of August, 1921.
Shortly after his death, the bills in these causes were filed, appellees averring that after the death of the assured they learned of certain false statements and representations made in the applications for the policies, which invalidated the same. Each company tendered the return of the premiums paid, and in the case of the Equitable Society, one of the policies payable to a beneficiary other than the assured's wife, Jessie P. Keeton, was surrendered upon return of the premium, and is not involved in these suits, leaving the contest only on a single policy for $5,000 in the Equitable Society, and two for $5,000 each in the Jefferson Company.
In his application for a policy in the Jefferson Company, the assured answered the following questions bearing on his health, and made certain stipulations, as follows:
Which was signed by J. S. Keeton.
In his applications for policies in the Equitable, the assured answered the following questions bearing on his health, and made certain representations as follows:
The application to the Equitable contained the following stipulation:
"All of the foregoing answers and all those made to the society's medical examiner which are contained in part 2 hereof are true and are offered to the society as an inducement to issue the policy for which application is hereby made."
At the end of the application is the following:
Keeton's policy with the Equitable Society also contained the following:
Complainant in each of the causes charged that the assured procured the issuance of policies by making false statements, and concealing facts respecting material matters bearing upon his health, and medical treatment previously received by him, particularly that he had not theretofore been treated for rheumatism and heart trouble, and had never had or suffered from either of said ailments, and had had no occasion for five years preceding the dates of applications for the policies to have medical attention from any physician; all of which answers the bills charged were knowingly false and fraudulent, and affected matters of vital importance looking to the issuance of policies, and but for the making of which the policies would not have been issued.
Appellant, defendant in the District Court, answered denying generally all accusations of fraud in connection with the procuring of the insurance, and insisted that the deceased was insurable, and had not theretofore within five years preceding the dates of the policies, suffered from rheumatism or other disease that would have affected his insurability; nor had he been practiced upon within the period specified for any such ailments by a physician or physicians; and that the malady from which he died was one of short duration, the first symptoms of which appeared in the month of June, 1921.
Appellant further insisted that appellees were fully advised of the ailments with which the assured was afflicted, and that its agents and representatives knew thereof, and in the light of such knowledge made full investigation as to the health of the assured; and further averred that the answers to questions propounded to the assured were not in fact his answers, but those of insurers' representatives, who took down the same.
Issues were joined upon the pleadings, and the two causes heard together and submitted to the district judge. The testimony was all taken in open court under the new equity rules, and the District Court passed its decrees on the 17th of April, 1924, holding that said policies should be declared null and void and canceled, because procured by the assured's making false statements respecting material matters leading to their issue, which the testimony clearly established. From the decrees thus entered, these appeals were taken.
The merits of the cases, on appeal, turn so largely in our judgment upon what is the correct determination of the facts properly controlling, that we are relieved from much of the difficulty that might otherwise arise in passing upon the questions involved, by reason of the findings of fact of the learned district judge, who saw and heard the witnesses testify, and was thereby better enabled to give to their testimony the weight that properly belonged to the same. The following are excerpts from the opinion and finding of the district judge:
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