Lee v. Union Cent. Life Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 08 June 1897
• Citation: 41 S.W. 319
• Parties: LEE v. UNION CENT. LIFE INS. CO.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

41 S.W. 319

LEE v. UNION CENT. LIFE INS. CO.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

June 8, 1897

Appeal from circuit court, Carlisle county.

"Not to be officially reported."

Action by Sallie Lee against the Union Central Life Insurance Company on a life insurance contract. Verdict and judgment for defendant on peremptory instruction, and plaintiff appeals. Reversed.

John W Ray, for appellant.

I. M Nichols & Son, for appellee.

PAYNTER J.

The appellee's agent, Hanbury, delivered to John T. Lee a receipt as follows: "Received of Jno. T. Lee thirty-nine 62/100 dollars, being the first annual premium on an application for a policy of insurance in the Union Central Life Insurance Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, for two thousand dollars, on the life of J. T. Lee. It is hereby understood and agreed that said J. T. Lee is to be insured from the date of this receipt in accordance with all the provisions conditions and stipulations of the policies of said company provided, said application shall be approved and accepted by said company. If, however, the application shall be declined by the company, this application is to be null and void, and the amount (receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged) is to be returned to said J. T. Lee by me on surrender of this receipt." On that day Lee made an application for a policy of insurance on his life to the appellee, the Union Central Life Insurance Company. The application was sent to the home office of the company, at Cincinnati, Ohio. It was received on the 27th of September. On the same day the medical director of the company approved the application. At some time before the death of Lee, which occurred on the night of the 29th of September, John M. Pattison, president of the company, indorsed on the application "Approved," and issued a policy on the life of John T. Lee, payable to the beneficiary, the appellant, Sallie Lee, and sent it to the state agent for Kentucky. Before its delivery, Lee died. This action is based upon the receipt which Hanbury delivered to Lee. His authority to execute it is not questioned. The receipt stipulates that Lee was insured from the date of the receipt, provided the application shall be approved and accepted by the company. When that was done the contract between Lee and the insurance company was complete, and the company became liable under the contract which Hanbury had made with Lee. Although the company may not have delivered the...