48 Ga. App. 245 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1934
1. “The punctual payment of insurance premiums, as and when due, is of the essence of the contract of insurance, and a failure to make such payment in strict compliance with the terms of the contract, in the absence of a waiver expressly made or arising by reasonable implication, results in a forfeiture of the policy.” Plumer v. Continental Casualty Co., 12 Ga. App. 594 (77 S. E. 917) ; Illinois Life Ins. Co. v. McKay, 6 Ga. App. 285, 289 (64 S. E. 1131). After a default in the payment of a life-insurance premium, and a consequent lapse of the policy, notice to the insured of the default and of the insurer’s intention to declare a forfeiture is not necessary, in the absence of statute or contract expressed in the policy or otherwise. Such a forfeiture provision in the policy is self-executing. 37 C. J. 525 (§ 258) ; 32 C. J. 1313, § 562.
2. Without an agreement to the contrary, the partial payment of a life-insurance premium when not within the contemplation of the policy is not effective to keep the policy in force, unless the insurer, when receiving such partial payment, does something in that connection which operates as a waiver of full and timely payment. Bulger v. Washington Life Ins. Co., 63 Ga. 328; Slocum v. N. Y. Life Ins. Co., 228 U. S. 364 33 Sup. Ct. 523, 57 L. ed. 879, Ann. Cas. 1914D, 1029) ; Bank of Commerce v. N. Y. Life Ins. Co., 125 Ga. 552 (2) (54 S. E. 643) ; 32 C. J. 1312, § 560.
4. Where the terms of a life-insurance policy entitled the insured, on lapse of the policy for nonpayment of premium, to the option of receiving its cash surrender value, or paid-up insurance for a reduced amount, or insurance for a reduced period of time, but provided that if the, insured did not within three months after default exercise such options as required, “the policy shall be continued for a reduced amount of paid-up insurance,” the policy, on failure of the insured to exercise his options, automatically became a paid-up policy for such reduced amount of insurance as the owner of the policy was entitled to have under the second option. Dwyer v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 132 S. C. 10 (129 S. E. 84), and cit. See also Tyson v. Equitable Assurance Society, 144 Ga. 729 (87 S. E. 1055).
5. “The demand for payment in full of a future premium subsequently to the breach of a condition which would have entitled the insurer to insist, upon a forfeiture of the contract will be held to be a waiver of the forfeiture, and be treated as an acknowledgment that the delinquent policyholder is still entitled to the benefits conferred by his contract.” Williams v. Empire Mutual Ins. Co., 8 Ga. App. 303 (7) (68 S. E. 1082); Farmers Mutual Ins. Co. v. Kilgore, 39 Ga. App. 528 (2) (147 S. E. 725); Farmers Mutual Life Asso. v. Elliott, 4 Ga. App. 342 (61 S. E. 493). But a letter from the insurer, merely notifying the insured as to the amount of a past-due premium, without demanding payment, especially where it advises him as to the lapse of the policy or the terms of
6. Under the ruling in paragraph 3 above, the provisions of the policy, and the admitted liability and tender by the insurance company, the plaintiff in any event was entitled to a verdict in her favor for the amount of $223. The judgment for the plaintiff is therefore affirmed on condition that the plaintiff, if she shall see proper, shall write off all except that sum by the time the remittitur from this court is made the judgment of the court below; and on her failure so to do, the judgment of the court below will be reversed.
Judgment affirmed on condition.