Northwestern National Life Insurance Company v. Paul Riggs

• Decision Date: 03 December 1906
• Docket Number: No. 34,34
• Citation: 7 Ann. Cas. 1104,27 S.Ct. 126,203 U.S. 243,51 L.Ed. 168
• Parties: NORTHWESTERN NATIONAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, Plff. in Err., v. PAUL RIGGS and Eugene De Hart, Executors of the Estate of Eber B. Roloson, Deceased
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

203 U.S. 243

27 S.Ct. 126

51 L.Ed. 168

NORTHWESTERN NATIONAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, Plff. in Err.,

v PAUL RIGGS and Eugene De Hart, Executors of the Estate of Eber B. Roloson, Deceased.

No. 34.

Argued October 18, 1906.

Decided December 3, 1906.

Messrs. Stephen S. Brown, W. A. Kerr, and John E. Dolman for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 243-245 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Robert A. Hewitt, Jr., W. H. Haynes, Kendall B. Randolph, and W. M. Fitch for defendants in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 245-247 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Harlan delivered the opinion of the court:

This was an action upon two policies of insurance issued by the Northwestern National Life Insurance Company, a Minnesota corporation doing business in Missouri, upon the life of Eber B. Roloson; one, dated November 21st, 1901, the other, May 14th, 1902; each for the sum of $5,000, payable to the estate of the insured within ninety days after the acceptance by the company of satisfactory evidence of his death while the policy was in full force.

Each policy contained these provisions: 'This policy shall not be in force until the first premium is paid, and the policy delivered to and accepted by the insured while in good health. At any time when this policy has been two years continuously in force it will be incontestable, except for fraud and nonpayment of premiums as provided herein, if the age of the insured has been correctly stated in the application.'

The application for insurance was made by reference a part of the policy, the latter providing that the statements and answers therein every person accepting or acquiring an interest in the policy 'adopts as his own, and warrants to be full, complete, and true, and agrees to be material.' The application provides: 'No obligation shall arise under this application until the usual policy of insurance shall be issued and delivered to me, I being at that time in good health, and the first premium paid by me,' also, 'I warrant the statements and answers as written or printed herein, or in part two of this application, to be full, complete, and true, whether written by my own hand or not, and agree that every such statement and answer is material to the risk;' also, 'That I am not afflicted with any disease or disorder; nor have I had any illness, local disease, or personal injury not herein set forth.'

Among the questions propounded to the insured and his answers embodied in the application—were the following: 'Q. Has any company or association ever postponed or declined to grant insurance on your life? A. No. Q. If so, for what reason and by what company or association. A. No. Q. Has any physician ever given an unfavorable opinion upon your life with reference to life insurance or otherwise? A. No. Q. Have you ever had any illness, local disease, injury, mental or nervous disease or infirmity, or ever had any disease, weakness, or ailment of the head, throat, lungs, heart, stomach, intestines, liver, kidneys, bladder or any disease or infirmity whatever? A. No. Q. Give name and address of each physician who has prescribed for or attended you within the past ten years, and for what disease and ailments? Name, Dr. C. O. Patton, McFall, Missouri. (b.) For what disease or ailment? A. Bilious attack. Q. Has your husband or wife or any other immediate member of your family any tuberculous disease? A. Only sister had, as stated.'

It was admitted at the trial that the insured died February 28th, 1903, having paid all premiums due upon his policies, and that proofs of his death were made, such proofs stating that he died of progressive anesmia.

The company denied all liability on its policies, upon the ground that each of the answers to the above questions was untrue, and known to be so by the applicant when he made them. And at the trial it was offered to be proved (and the offer was rejected, the company duly excepting) that such answers were not true, and when made were known to be untrue.

There was a verdict for the plaintiffs, the executors of the insured, for the amount due on the two policies, namely $11,050, for which judgment was rendered against the company.

The case was brought here under the act of March 3d, 1891, chap. 517, which authorizes an appeal or writ of error directly to this court from a circuit or district court of the United States, in any case in which the Constitution or law of a state is claimed to be in contravention of the Constitution of the United States. 26 Stat. at L. 826, 828, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, pp. 488, 549.

When the policies in question were issued it was provided by the statutes of Missouri, § 7890, that: 'No misrepresentation made in obtaining or securing a policy of insurance on the life or lives of any person or persons, citizens of this state, shall be deemed material, or render the policy void, unless the matter misrepresented shall have actually contribited to be contingency or event on which the policy is to become due and payable, and whether it so contributed in any case shall be a question for the jury;' and by § 7891, that 'in suits brought upon life policies, heretofore or hereafter issued, no defense based upon misrepresentation in obtaining or securing the same shall be valid unless the defendant shall, at or before the trial, deposit in court for the benefit of the plaintiffs, the premiums received on such policies.'

These provisions were first enacted in 1874, appearing in the Revision of 1879 as §§ 5976 and 5977, in the Revision of 1889 as §§ 5849 and 7891, and in the present revision as §§ 7890 and 7891.

At the trial in the circuit court the insurance company made several requests for instructions. They embodied these propositions: That the statute of Missouri, § 7890, was not applicable to this case, and could not be applied to it consistently with the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States; that the plaintiff could not recover on either policy if it appeared that it was not delivered to and accepted by him while he was in good health; that if the insured, at the time of making his application for a policy of insurance, knowingly, falsely, and fraudulently, with the pur- pose to mislead and deceive the company, misrepresented in the application any matter concerning his health, life, or physical condition, which would reasonably affect the action of the company, then the Missouri statute was not applicable to the case; that if, with the intention to deceive and mislead the company, the insured made in his application an untrue warranty or misrepresentation concerning anything material to the risk, or if, at the time of the application, he was in bad health, and knew such to be his condition, but fraudulently and falsely, with the intent to decive, stated that he was then, and had been for twelve months, in good health, free from all ailments, diseases, weaknesses and infirmities, whereby the company was deceived into issuing the policy, when it would not otherwise have done so, he could not recover in this action.

The trial court refused each request of the company and an exception to its action was duly taken; and it charged the jury (the company excepting) that the Missouri statute was applicable to this case, and not unconstitutional, and that the defendant company could not avoid liability on its policy by reason of any representations by the insured in his application, unless the jury found that the matters to which such representations had reference actually contributed to the contingency or event on which the policy, by its terms, was to become due and payable.

Although the assignments of error are numberous, we do not deem it necessary to notice any questions except those growing out of the application of the Missouri statute to this case.

As to the purpose and scope of that statute, we need only refer to the decisions of...