56 So. 609 | Miss. | 1911
Lead Opinion
delivered tbe opinion of tbe court.
In 1892 one J. D. Thompson, a resident of Memphis, Tenn., was tbe agent of tbe Germania Life Insurance Company of New York. His jurisdiction embraced the states of Mississippi, Arkansas, and West Tennessee. Tbe contract between Thompson and tbe insurance company was in writing. This contract consists of some fifteen provisions, but it is only necessary for the purpose of this- case to refer to tbe first three provisions.
Some time prior to May 18, 1892, the appellee was solicited by Thompson, the agent, to take out a life insurance policy with the Germania Life Insurance Company, and the appellee made written application for a three thousand dollar policy upon the twenty-payment plan,
There is a great deal of testimony in the record as to what Thompson; the agent, said to Bouldin as to the benefits to be derived from the policy, and as to Bouldin’s reliance upon said statements, both verbal and written. We omit entirely all of this, because it has no bearing upon the question at issue, for the reason
A short time previous to the maturity of the policy the assured addressed a letter to the company at New York, this letter being dated June 22, 1907, in which he writes that this policy would mature on the 28th of next month (July), and asks the company for full information as to the exact amount and options of settlement, and requesting specially the amount of settlement upon surrender of policy for cash, paid-up policy, and paid-up policy for face of policy, three thousand dollars, and cash. This letter was received by the company promptly, and on June 26, 1907, the company replied, stating options as follows: “There would be payable on July 28th next the guaranteed reserve of one thousand two hundred and eighty-four dollars, and its accumulated dividend, amounting to one hundred ninety-two dollars and eighty-two cents ”• — and referring Mr. Bouldin to a Mr. Shumaker, in Jackson, Miss., who at that time was the agent of the company, and who would be pleased to communicate with him (Bouldin) further on the subject. After that the assured demanded of the agent of the company the settlement hereinafter referred to, and which is in
The defendant answers, and admits ■ that the policy was issued upon the application of the complainant, denies that any representations made by the company or its agents are pertinent or relevant, and insists that the contract of insurance was fully set forth in the policy as issued by the defendant and accepted by the complainant, and further insists that it was immaterial whether the defendant, prior to-the delivery of the contract, made any representations as to its terms, etc., admits that the complainant paid all the premiums on the policy as required by its terms, and further alleges that the defendant offered to pay to complainant the sum of one thousand four hundred and seventy-eight dollars and eighty-two cents upon the surrender and cancellation of said policy, etc. The policy as issued bears date July 28, 1892, and provides that, in consideration of the annual premium of one hundred and nine dollars and eighty cents, there is to be paid the wife of said in
From the evidence in the case, such were the terms and stipulations of the policy when it was forwarded by the company from its home office in New York to Thompson, the manager of the company at Memphis, Tenn. ; the company forwarding this policy to its agent, Thompson, for the purpose of delivery by Thompson to the assured. When Thompson received this policy, he pasted on the back of it a slip, or rider, as follows: .
*675 “TO LIVE AND WIN.
“An Investment Insurance.
“Age 30. Amount of policy, $3,000.00
“Annual premium, $109.80, payable for 15 years.
“Dividend period, 15 years.
If death occurs during dividend period, your heirs will receive ................................................$3,000.00
At the end of the dividend period you can select one of the following options:
I.Surrender policy for cash ..................................................
] Reserve, $1,284 "I J Surplus, 777 j
$2,061.00
Reserve guaranteed and amount stated in policy.
Surplus guaranteed, but amount estimated based on past experience.
Total premium^ paid in 15 years ....................$1,647.00
Fifteen years’ life insurance free and profit............ 414.00
II.Paid-up policy for $4,770, having cost only ............ 1,647.00
III.Paid-up policy for $3,000 and cash .................... 777.00
“You will receive dividends during life on paid-up policy under second and third options.
“Policies non-forfeitable and incontestible after three years, and can be surrendered either for paid-up policy or their cash value.
“Cash loans made on policies, after they have run three years or longer, 85 per cent, of reserve at 6 per cent, interest.”
Thompson, the agent, after having pasted this slip, or rider, on the back of the policy, and just immediately over the printed conditions and agreements, forwarded the policy, with the slip thereon, by mail to the assured at his post office in Friars Point, Miss., and, as herein-before stated, wrote him the letter dated August 15, 1892.
"We emphasize three things: First, that the insurance company forwarded the policy to its agent, Thompson, in Memphis, to be delivered by Thompson to the assured ; second, that Thompson, the agent, attached to the insurance policy the rider, or slip, hereinbefore men
The lower court held that the policy does not state and embody any contract of insurance according to the true intent and meaning of the parties, that the minds of the parties never met with respect to the terms of any policy of insurance," and the court, finding that the complainant paid to the defendant -the annual premiums for fifteen years, entered a decree in favor of the complainant for the total sum of all the premiums paid, together with six per cent, interest thereon, the premiums, with the interest, amounting to two thousand, eight hundred and seventy-five dollars and eighty-two cents, and entered a decree against the defendant for the payment of this sum of money.
We do not know of any principle upon which this decree can be sustained. “It is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation,” that when a party comes into a court of equity he is required to do equity, and it is clear, under the facts of this case, that if the complainant had died at any time during the life of this policy — that is, within the fifteen years — the company would have been required to have paid the beneficiary the full amount the policy called for, to wit, three thousand dollars. In other words, the company would not have been in position to have claimed that the policy was not in full force and effect. It was surely bound thereon, and the complainant, having received the protection for the fifteen years, is ex aequo et bono compelled to pay for this protection. It certainly would be inequitable and unjust to require the insurance company to refund the total
The complainant, who from the evidence is a gentleman of intelligence and splendid business capacity, received the policy, and, instead of informing himself of its terms and conditions, placed the policy among his valuable papers, and it' was only a short time before the expiration of the fifteen years when he read the policy and made any effort whatever to inform himself of its contents. In New York Life Insurance Co. v. O’Dom, recently decided by this court (page 19 supra), 56 South. 379, we held that a party who accepts an insurance policy is bound to know, and is chargeable with, the provisions of the policy. It is bound to be the law that although the party may not have read the provisions of his policy, and relied in ignorance of them upon the express representations of the agent, this .fact cannot help him when the policy has actually been placed in his hands. It is his business to know what the contents of the written contract of insurance are, and there can be no difference in this respect between an insurance policy and any other contract. In the absence of any fraud in the making of an insurance policy, the insured must be held to a knowledge of the conditions of his policy, as he would be in the case of any other contract or agreement. Itcertainly would be inequitable and inconsistent with every safe, sound rule of conduct to permit one party to a contract to accept without examination a written contract, and to lay it aside for a long period of time, and then, when the period of termination is about to expire, to for the first time inform himself of its terms.
The powers possessed by agents of insurance companies, like those of any other corporation or of an individual principal, are to be interpreted in accordance with the general law of agencies. No other or different rule is to be applied to a contract of insurance than is applied to other contracts. The agent of an insurance company possesses such powers only as have been conferred verbally or by the instrument of authorization, or such as third persons had a right to assume that he possesses under the circumstances of each particular case.-
Cases frequently arise where the principal is estopped from denying the authority of his agent, and this is especially true where the agent, with the knowledge and consent of the principal, holds himself out to the world as having certain powers. The essence of estoppel is that the party asserting the agency was deceived by the conduct of the party against whom it is asserted, and, 'though fraud may be an ingredient of the case, it is not essential. The principal need not authorize the agent, to practice a fraud on third parties, yet if he authorize his agent to transact the business with a third party, and in so doing the agent practices the fraud on the party, the principal is liable. The estoppel may be allowed on the score of negligent fault of the principal. Where one or
We have seen from the evidence in this case that the company forwarded this policy to Thompson with instructions to deliver it to the assured, and that the assured accepted the policy without any notice or knowledge whatever that the slip, or rider, thereon was not placed there by the company itself at its home office in New York. The conclusion must inevitably follow that under such circumstances the company is bound by any alteration or modification made by its agent, Thompson, in the transaction of this business. The printed conditions, referred to in the body of the policy as being upon the back of the policy, originally contained a blank space to be filled in by writing therein the amount, and this blank was filled in by the company writing therein the amount, to wit, “twelve hundred and eighty-four dollars.” Now, suppose that, when the agent, Thompson, received this policy, he had erased these written words, “twelve hundred and eighty-four,” and had inserted therein a different sum; would it be doubted that the company would not be responsible for the acts of its agent, Thompson, in inserting in this blank space the amount?
' It is a well-settled rule of law that insurance policies are always construed most strongly against the insurance company, and most favorably for the assured. When the assured received the policy in suit, he read, or is presumed to have read, as advised in the policy, the conditions and agreements printed on the back thereof, and was therefore authorized to construe those conditions and provisions most favorably for himself. We find on the back of this policy a printed agreement to the effect that, upon the surrender of this policy at the expiration of the tontine period, the company would pay to the legal holder the sum of one thousand, two hundred
Reversed, with instructions that a decree be entered in accordance with this opinion.
Reversed.
Concurrence Opinion
(concurring).
Appellant’s failure to read the policy is immaterial, for, had he done so, he would simply have verified the