57 Ga. App. 16 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1937
(After stating the foregoing facts.) Although it may be assumed that the insurance company, through its agent to whom the plaintiff had directed the envelope containing the check in payment of the premium, never received the check, and that the premium was not in fact paid within the grace period, it nevertheless appears from the evidence that the plaintiff drew a check in payment of the premium, payable to the defendant’s authorized agent to receive it, that the check was placed in an envelope directed to the defendant’s authorized agent, with the plaintiff’s return address thereon, stamped with the requisite postage stamp, and placed in a mail bag in the plaintiff’s office, which was used for the purpose of conveying mail sent from the plaintiff’s office to the post-office, that it was the customary duty of one of two of the employees working at the plaintiff’s office to carry the mail bag to the post-office daily, and, so far as it appears from the evidence, this custom was not broken. It is inferable that the letter containing the check was by one of the employees at the plaintiff’s office conveyed to and deposited in the post-office in due course of mail. Davis v. Allen, 25 Ga. 234, and Rawleigh Medical Co. v. Burney, 25 Ga. App. 20 (102 S. E. 358), are distinguishable. The evidence therefore
Under the provisions of the policy it would become lapsed and of no force on default in the payment of any premium before the expiration of the grace period allowed. Any provision of a policy made for the company’s benefit may be waived by the company either expressly or impliedly by the company’s action. The company may by its course of conduct be estopped from relying upon any provision of the policy in its favor. Forfeitures are not favored by the law. Any circumstances or conduct which would indicate a waiver by the insurance company of its right under the policy to insist upon a forfeiture on the nonpayment of a premium, or any course of action on the part of the insurance company which might lead the insured to honestly believe that by pursuing a particular course of conduct a forfeiture of the policy would not be incurred, would estop the company, although the premium may not have been paid in accordance with the terms of the policy, from insisting upon a forfeiture. It appears from the allegations of the petition and the evidence, that, by an unbroken custom and course of conduct between the plaintiff and the defendant insurance company, the plaintiff had paid the premiums by check deposited in the United States mail, directed to the authorized agent of the company;
Judgment reversed on the maim, bill of exceptions, and affirmed on the cross-bill.