Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Kohn

• Decision Date: 17 February 1961
• Docket Number: No. 38445,No. 2,38445,2
• Citation: 118 S.E.2d 731,103 Ga.App. 162
• Parties: METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY v. Sophie KOHN
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

Page 731

118 S.E.2d 731

103 Ga.App. 162

METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY v. Sophie KOHN.

No. 38445.

Court of Appeals of Georgia, Division No. 2.

Feb. 17, 1961.

Syllabus by the Court

Since the evidence demanded the finding that the decedent was not covered under the provisions of the instant group insurance policy on the date of his death, the trial court erred in denying the defendant insurer's motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict made in accordance with its previous motion for a directed verdict.

This was a suit to recover on a group insurance certificate in the amount of $8,000 together with $4,000 as penalties and attorneys' fees for bad faith, issued to Gerard E. Kohn, as an employee of Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for the face amount of the policy, and the exception here is to the judgment of the lower court denying the defendant's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and its motion for new trial as amended.

Smith, Field, Ringel, Martin & Carr, H. A. Stephens, Jr., Palmer Ansley, Atlanta, for plaintiff in error.

Nall, Miller, Cadenhead & Dennis, James W. Dorsey, Theodore Frankel, Atlanta, for defendant in error.

JORDAN, Judge.

The undisputed evidence in this case shows that the plaintiff's decedent died on November 8, 1958, and that prior to that date on April 11, 1958, his 'active' employment with the employer company had been terminated. The uncontradicted records of said company disclose that the decedent's insurance under the group plan in question had been canceled on that date by the company and that no further insurance premiums were forwarded to the insurer under the terms of the policy. It is contended by the defendant insurer that, under these facts as related to section 5 of the group life insurance policy, the evidence demanded a finding that the plaintiff's decedent's coverage had been terminated prior to his death.

It is the contention of the plaintiff that, under the proper construction of the policy, the life insurance coverage in question automatically continued as to retired employees and that consequently it was a question for the jury as to whether the decedent had been discharged or retired on April 11, 1958, when he ceased active employment with the company.

Section 5 of the master group policy provided: 'Section 5. Cessation of insurance (A) The life insurance on any employee insured hereunder shall automatically cease on the date of the termination of his employment.

'Termination of employment, for the purposes of life insurance hereunder, means cessation of active work as an employee as defined in Section 1 hereof, except that (i) in case of the absence of an employee from active work because of sickness, injury or retirement X, his employment may, for the purposes of his life insurance hereunder, be deemed to continue until terminated by the employer, or (ii) in case of the absence of an employee from active work because of leave of absence or temporary layoff, his employment may, for the purposes of his life insurance hereunder, be deemed to continue until terminated by the employer but in no case beyond the expiration of a period of two months following the date such leave of absence or layoff commenced.

'In the case of either of the above exceptions, the life insurance hereunder on such employee shall automatically cease on the date of such termination of his employment by the employer, as evidenced to the insurance company by the employer, whether by notification or by cessation of premium payment on account of such employee's life insurance hereunder.'

Section F of...