70 So. 119 | Ala. | 1915
In Standard Life & Accident Ins. Co. v. Martin, 133 Ind. 276, 33 N. E. 105, where the insured, an unmarried man, directed the policy to be made payable to a beneficiary whose relation to him he stated to be that of wife, the court was of opinion that the statement was neither a warranty nor a material representation, but only an indication and designation of the person to whom the policy was to be payable in case of death. This view of similar statements has been taken in Durlan v. Central Verein, etc., 7 Daly (N. Y.) 168; Lampkin v. Travelers’ Ins. Co., 11 Colo. App. 249, 52 Pac. 1040; Ashford v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 98 Mo. App. 105, 72 S. W. 712; and Supreme Lodge A. O. U. W. v. Hutchinson, 6 Ind. App. 399, 33 N. E. 816. And in Berdan v. Milwaukee Mut. Life Ins. Co., 136 Mich. 396, 99 N. W. 411, 4 Ann. Cas. 332, it was held that one known and recognized as the nephew of the insured, though not in fact bearing such relationship, may properly be designated as the insured’s nephew in naming the
Whether the statement made by the insured in regard to the relation between herself and the named beneficiary, in the form shown by the application for the policy in this case, may be more properly treated as a mere matter of description or as a representation of such sort that the insurer, but for the statute, might be entitled to consider it as of contractual materiality, we are of opinion that the conclusion reached by the trial court must be sustained on consideration that the statement was immaterial in fact, as not affecting the risk (Berdan v. Milwaukee Mut. Life Ins. Co. and Standard Life & Accident Ins. v. Martin, supra), and that the evidence affords no sufficient warrant for an inference of actual fraud.
Affirmed.