53 Ga. App. 473 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1936
This is an action by Mittie Cutledge, wife of Thomas R. Cutledge, deceased, upon a certificate of insurance issued to deceased, under a group policy between defendant, AEtna Life Insurance Company, and Flint River Cotton Mills, employer. The certificate was issued on November 20, 1928. Deceased contributed towards the purchase of this insurance sixty cents per month from November 20, 1928, until August 22, 1935, when his employment with the Flint River Cotton Mills terminated. He died August 25, 1935. The certificate issued to the employee recited that: “AEtna Life Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut has insured the lives of certain employees of Flint River Cotton Mills by a group policy of insurance, No. 1120-S, issued and delivered to the employer. Under and subject to the terms and conditions of said policy, and the application therefor, the life of Tom Cutledge an employee, is insured for the sum of $500 payable in event of death to Mattie Cutledge — wife, beneficiary. This insurance may be terminated whenever said employee for any reason whatsoever ceases to be in the employ of said employer.” The group policy provided: “all insurance on the life of any employee shall automatically cease upon termination of employment.” The certificate further provided: “In case of the termination of
The provisions of the group policy and the certificate issued thereunder should be construed together. Carruth v. Ætna Life Insurance Co., 157 Ga. 608 (122 S. E. 226); Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. v. Harrod, 46 Ga. App. 127 (166 S. E. 870); Ætna Life Insurance Co. v. Padgett, 49 Ga. App. 666 (176 S. E. 702). So taken, the provisions definitely provide for an automatic cancellation of the certificate of insurance issued to the employee upon the termination of his employment with the Flint River Cotton Mills, employer. Such a provision has often been upheld by the courts. Curd v. Travelers Insurance Co., 51 Ga. App. 306 (180 S. E. 249); Joiner v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 43 Ga. App. 1 (157 S. E. 703); Joiner v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 40 Ga. App. 740 (151 S. E. 540); Douglas v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. (Mo. App.), 297 S. W. 87; Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Hawkins, 156 Va. 720 (158 S. E. 877); Greeley v. Ætna Life Ins. Co., 150 Wash. 611 (274 Pac. 106); Kowalski v. Ætna Life Ins. Co., 266 Mass. 255 (165 N. E. 476, 63 A. L. R. 1030); Bradley v. Prudential Ins. Co., 70 Fed. (2d) 988. The petition in the present case expressly alleges that the employment of insured terminated with the employer three days before his death. Therefore the petition set out no cause of action, unless, as contended by counsel for plaintiff in error, the conversion clause, which we have already set out above in quotations, had the effect of extending the coverage of insurance upon an employee thirty-one day's after his cessation of employment, during which time he might apply for an individual policy', without proof of insurability. This argument, however, is not sound, and is not in' accordance with the plain provisions of the policy', which pro
Judgment affirmed.