Teeple v. Fraternal Bankers' Reserve Society
| Decision Date | 20 January 1917 |
| Docket Number | 31183 |
| Parties | MARY C. TEEPLE, Appellee, v. FRATERNAL BANKERS' RESERVE SOCIETY, Appellant |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from Jackson District Court.--WM. THEOPHILUS, Judge.
ACTION at law to recover upon a policy or certificate of insurance issued by the appellant to Marvin W. Teeple. There was a directed verdict and judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals.
Affirmed.
Robert Taylor, C. L. Ely, R. P. Thomas, W. H. Palmer, and Tourtellot & Donnelly, for appellant.
F. D Kelsey and F. M. Fort, for appellee.
On June 5, 1913, Marvin W. Teeple, a young man 21 years and 6 months of age, was admitted to membership in the defendant society, and received from defendant a certificate, providing, subject to certain conditions hereinafter mentioned, that, upon satisfactory proof of the fact and cause of such member's death while in good standing in the society, defendant would pay to his mother, Mary C. Teeple, the sum of $ 1,000. Thereafter, on December 12, 1914, Marvin W. Teeple died, while in good standing as a member of the society. Thereupon, the plaintiff, as the beneficiary of said insurance, demanded payment thereof, and, upon its refusal, brought this action for its collection.
In answer to plaintiff's petition, the defendant denied its liability upon the certificate, averring that it is a fraternal beneficiary society, and not a life insurance company; and, as an affirmative defense to plaintiff's action, alleged that the contract of insurance was not contained in the certificate alone, but also in the application by the deceased for membership in the society and in his medical examination, which is a part of such application. It was further alleged that, by the terms of such contract, deceased warranted that all his statements and answers made in his said application and upon his medical examination were strictly and literally true, and agreed that, if any of them should prove untrue or false, it would work an entire forfeiture of the insurance. This warranty, it was further alleged, was broken in the following particulars: In reply to a question as to the cause of the death of his father, deceased answered, "Pneumonia;" and further, that the previous health of the father was "good" and the duration of his fatal sickness was a "short time." Defendant avers that these answers were untrue, because the father did not die of pneumonia, but of consumption, or with hemorrhage of the lungs, and that prior to his death he had been ill for a long time. Further pleading affirmatively, it was alleged in the answer that, in response to a question to the deceased whether either of his parents or any of his grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts or uncles had been afflicted with or died of consumption or any other hereditary disease, the insured answered, "No," when in truth other relatives of the deceased related to him within the specified degrees had been afflicted with consumption and other kindred diseases. To another question, asking when and by what physician he was last attended and for what complaint, he answered, "Never had any in late years since I can remember." The truth of this answer was denied, and defendant alleged upon information and belief that deceased had consulted a physician at various times for treatment or advice, within three years before the date of his said application. Finally it was alleged that deceased untruthfully stated that he was aware of nothing which should be made known in order to fairly estimate the risk on his life, when he knew that his father and others of his near relatives had been afflicted with consumption, tuberculosis and kindred diseases.
On the trial, the evidence offered by the defendant was directed solely to the death of the father of the insured, and of its cause and the prior state of his health. No attempt was made to show any false or untrue statements by the plaintiff as to his own health or personal history, or that he had in fact ever consulted or been treated by a physician prior to his becoming a member of the defendant society, or that he was then in fact aware of any other thing which should have been made known to enable the insurer to properly estimate the risk on his life. The proofs of death indicate that the deceased died of Bright's disease. No claim or evidence appears in the record that the disease of which the insured died was of an hereditary character, or that its origin was or could be traced to the pulmonary disease of which defendant claims the father died. Defendant does not aver nor does it offer evidence to show that, had the alleged facts concerning the father been revealed in the application made by the insured, the information so obtained would have made any difference in the action of the insurer upon the application for membership.
At the close of the evidence, the defendant moved for a directed verdict in its favor, on grounds stated as follows: That it appears from the whole evidence, and is not contradicted, that the father of the insured died of hemorrhage, and not of pneumonia as represented in the application by the assured; that said application shows, in answer to the questions as to what disease the father of the assured died of, that it was pneumonia, and that the evidence in this case shows that it was not of pneumonia that he died, nor has there been any evidence introduced showing that the father had pneumonia, or that he died of said disease, but that, on the contrary, he died of hemorrhage; that, in answer to Question 21 in said application, the applicant stated that there was no hereditary or chronic ailment on the part of his father; and that the evidence does show that there had been a longstanding ailment of hemorrhage, and that he had died at a time and under circumstances showing nothing other than hemorrhage.
This motion being overruled, plaintiff then moved for a directed verdict in her favor, on the theory that she had shown a clear prima-facie case for recovery, and that defendant had offered no evidence on which the jury could find there were any misrepresentations, intentional or otherwise, made by the insured in his application, and that upon the entire record there was no material question of fact to be submitted to the jury. The court sustained the motion, and there was a verdict and judgment accordingly.
I. It will be observed that, in the motions filed for a directed verdict, both defendant and plaintiff speak of the answers made by the insured person concerning the death of his father as representations, rather than warranties, but it is to be admitted that defendant, both in pleading and argument, relies upon the proposition that such answers constitute strict warranties.
Turning to the record as shown by the abstracts, we find that, in the application proper, the insured was asked no question concerning the death or cause of death of his father, and the only language therein on which any claim of warranty can be based is the following:
The abstract does not set out or contain the medical examination in full, and so much of the part shown as has any relation to the single issue which was in fact tried is as follows:
The certificate or policy contains a statement that it is issued "in pursuance of the articles of incorporation and constitution and by-laws of the Fraternal Bankers' Reserve Society, and upon the representations contained in the application for membership, a copy of which is attached hereto; and the said articles of incorporation, constitution and by-laws and all amendments hereafter made thereto, and said application, and the...
To continue reading
Request your trial