Northwestern Benev. & Aid Ass'n v. Hall

• Decision Date: 06 October 1886
• Citation: 118 Ill. 169,8 N.E. 764
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court
• Parties: NORTHWESTERN BENEV. & AID ASS'N v. HALL.

118 Ill. 169

8 N.E. 764

NORTHWESTERN BENEV. & AID ASS'N

v.HALL.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

October 6, 1886.

Appeal from appellate court, Third district.

McNulta & Weldon and Hamilton Spencer, for appellant.

Tipton & Deaver, for appellee.

MAGRUDER, J.

This is an action of assumpsit, brought by appellee, who is the widow of one Benjamin T. Hall, deceased, against appellant, in the circuit court of McLean county, upon a certificate of membership in appellant company bearing date September 27, 1884, for the sum of $2,000, issued to the said Benjamin T. Hall. The circuit court, after a trial of the cause by agreement, without a jury, rendered judgment in favor of appellee for $2,000 and costs. This judgment, upon appeal, has been affirmed by the appellate court of the Third district, and appellant company prosecutes its further appeal to this court.

The certificate in question was, in effect, a policy of insurance upon the life of the deceased, Hall. It certifies that he is entitled to all the rights and privileges of membership in appellant company, and to participate in the beneficiary or relief fund of the association, to the amount of $2,000, ‘which sum, or such part thereof as may be collected as specified in the constitution and by-laws of the association, shall, within sixty days after his death, be paid to his wife, Mary J. Hall.’ It also recites that it is issued upon condition that Hall ‘shall comply with the constitution and by-laws of the association, and that the statements in the application for this certificate are true.’ Hall died December 4, 1884, and proofs of his death were made by January 2, 1885.

The application referred to, which was signed by Hall, contained, among others, the following questions and answers: ‘ Question. Has your general health been uniformly good for the past ten years? Answer. Yes. Q. Do you use alcoholic or other stimulants? A. No. Q. If so, do you drink regularly? A. Not at all. Q. Do you ever get drunk? A. No.’ In the application Hall agreed that such ‘application and declaration’ should be the basis of the contract between him and the association, ‘and that, if any misrepresentation or fraudulentor untrue answers have been made, or any facts which should have been stated have been suppressed, if death should result from suicide, etc.,’ then the agreement should be void, and the moneys paid should be forfeited. He also therein declared that he had made full and correct answers to all the questions, and warranted such answers to be true and complete statements of all material facts within his knowledge; and agreed that if he should, at any time, impair his health by immoral practices, or the excessive use of alcoholic stimulants or narcotics the contract should be void.

Upon the issues made in the case, the questions presented for the decision of the trial court were purely questions of fact. They were: (1) Was the condition of health of the insured uniformly good for the space of 10 years next before his application for membership? (2) Were the habits of the deceased, as to the use of alcoholic liquors, such as to amount to a breach of his contract? (3) Did the deceased commit suicide?

The appellant sought to show that Hall poisoned himself by taking strychnine. There was no positive proof that he had taken such a poison. There was proof tending to show that the pains in his head of which he complained, and the spasms which immediately preceded his death, may have been caused by some other disease,-not the result of...