Kerpchak v. John Hancock Mut. Life Ins. Co.

Citation117 A. 836
Decision Date19 June 1922
Docket NumberNo. 105.,105.
PartiesKERPCHAK v. JOHN HANCOCK MUT. LIFE INS. CO.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court (New Jersey)

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Minturn, Black, and Van Buskirk, JJ., dissenting.

Appeal from Supreme Court.

Action by Lizzie Kerpchak against the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Reversed, and venire de novo awarded.

McCarter & English, of Newark, for appellant.

Thomas J. Kennedy, of Passaic, for respondent.

TRENCHARD, J. This is an appeal from a judgment entered upon a verdict for the plaintiff below at the Bergen circuit.

The plaintiff is the mother and beneficiary of Anna E. Kerpchak, whose life the defendant company insured for $1,000 on April 3, 1919.

The policy says that it was issued in consideration of the representations in the attached application made a part thereof, and further provides, as required by our Insurance Law (P. L. 1907, p. 133, § 1 [4]), that— "All statements * * * made by the insured shall, in the absence of fraud, be deemed representations and not warranties."

It also provides that it shall be uncontestable after one year, except for certain causes not now in question.

The insured died of pulmonary tuberculosis December 5, 1919, 8 months after the policy was issued, aged 19 years. The defendant company refused to pay the beneficiary (the plaintiff), because, among other things, it maintained that a statement in the application to the effect that the applicant had never consulted a physician was false and fraudulent, and it was upon that ground, among others, that the defendant at the trial moved for a direction of a verdict in its favor.

We are of the opinion that the denial of that motion was erroneous.

The legal rule is that where, as here, a policy provides, as required by our Insurance Law, that "all statements * * * made by the insured shall, in the absence of fraud, be deemed representations and not warranties," the policy will be avoided for a misrepresentation in the application, made a part thereof, if the misrepresentation be material and fraudulent, that is to say, if it be the statement of something as a fact, which is untrue, and which the insured stated, knowing it to be untrue, and with an intent to deceive, or which he stated positively as true without knowing it to be true, and which had a tendency to mislead; such fact in either case being material to the risk. Prahm v. Prudential Insurance Co. (Err. & App.) 116 Atl. 798.

Every fact which is untruly stated or wrongfully suppressed must be regarded as material, if the knowledge or ignorance of it would naturally and reasonably influence the judgment of the underwriter in making the contract at all, or in estimating the degree or character of the risk, or in fixing the rate of premium.

A false statement in the application made a part of the contract, that the applicant had not consulted or been attended or treated by a physician, is material to the risk, and, if made knowingly and willfully, will avoid the policy. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. McTague, 49 N. J. Law, 587, 9 Atl. 760, 60 Am. Rep. 661.

In the present case the application shows that the insured was asked: ...

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  • Paul Revere Life Ins. Co. v. Haas
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court (New Jersey)
    • July 26, 1994
    ...or character of the risk, or in fixing the rate of premium.' " Id. at 115, 584 A.2d 190 (quoting Kerpchak v. John Hancock Mut. Ins. Co., 97 N.J.L. 196, 198, 117 A. 836 (E. & A.1922) (alteration in original)). We noted that "[b]y denying coverage to insureds who lie, th[is] test encourages a......
  • Chambers v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co.
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    ......601, 159 P. 3; 4 Couch Cyc. of Ins. Law, 2710; Doran v. John Hancock Life Ins. Co., 116. S.W.2d 172; Chambers v. Met. Life Ins. Co., ...Co. v. Mullan, 107 Md. 457, 69 A. 385; Geer v. Union Mut. Life Ins. Co., 273 N.Y. 261,. 7 N.E.2d 125; Kerpchak v. Jno. Hancock ......
  • Massachusetts Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Manzo
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    • June 14, 1989
    ......at 21, 398 A.2d 1301, relied on and quoted Kerpchak v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co., 97 N.J.L. 196, 198, 117 A. 836 (E. & A. 1922), which ......
  • Russ v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co.
    • United States
    • Superior Court of New Jersey
    • November 9, 1970
    ...Co., Supra. However, in Prahm v. Prudential Insurance Co., 97 N.J.L. 206, 116 A. 798 (March 1922), and Kerpchak v. John Hancock Mutual Life Ins. Co., 97 N.J.L. 196, 117 A. 836 (June 1922), Justice Trenchard, writing for the Court of Errors and Appeals, stated a test which, though arguably n......
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