199 Ky. 470 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1923
Affirming.
Appellant, Standard Auto Association, is defending this action against appellee Russell on a policy of fire insurance issued by it to him on his Saxon automobile in 1920, for $700.00. He recovered a verdict for $700.00 upon which judgment was entered in the lower court, The association appeals.
It is the contention of the association that the statements in the written application of appellee Russell to the association for a policy of insurance are: (1) warranties, and (2) false and fraudulent. The material part of the application for the policy of insurance reads as follows:
“Amount op Fire and Thept Insurance Recommended by Agent, $700.00.
“What is your name? A. Ewing Russell. Do you want fire insurance Yes. Theft insurance? Yes. Damage? No. Do you want public liability? No. Do you want property damage? No. Manufacturer or make? Saxon. Type of body? Touring. No. of cylinder? Six. Year of model? 1919. Motor No.? X32601. Horse power? Thirty. Date purchased? May, 1920. From whom? Maxwell Agency, Evansville. Price paid? $800.00. Was oar second-hand? Yes. Is car mortgaged? No. If iso, to whom, and for how much? List price of car when new? $1,135.00. Usual storage place? Yont’s garage, 1st street, Henderson. Policy to be dated, Nov. 24, 1920. Date of application, Nov. 24, 1920. Premium payable? Annually. * ’
The insurer insists that there are at least three false and fraudulent statements in said application, made and signed by the insured: (1) The motor number given is incorrect, (2) purchase of car was not from Maxwell agency in Evansville, and (3) appellee did not pay $800.00 for the- car. All these matters are set up and relied upon in the answer of appellant association to defeat a recovery oh the policy. In reply to these averments in the answer the plaintiff alleges that on or about November 27th, 1920, S. C. Gilmore, as agent for the defendant, solicited plaintiff to purchase the policy of insurance sued on, and that the said Gilmore prepared and filled out the answers to the questions on the application for said insurance; that when the said Gilmore, in filling out said
After the issues were joined a jury trial was had, resulting in a verdict in favor of appellee Russell for $700.00. The instructions submitted each of the foregoing questions. The evidence on behalf of appellee Russell, plaintiff below, sustains each of the averments of the reply. The agent Gilmore did not testify.
Our rule regards an insurance solicitor as the agent of the company and not of the insured; and if such agent writes false answers to questions propounded to the ap
“It is. the general rule,” says 14 R. C. L., p. 1174, “that an insurance agent in making out an application for insurance acts as the agent of the insurer and not of the insured, and if the insured makes proper answers to the questions propounded, the insurer cannot take' advantage of -a false answer inserted by its agent contrary to the facts as stated by the applicant. Nor can the insurer avoid the force of this rule by stating in the policy that the agent or the physician acts as the agent of the
We can see no reason why the general laws of Kentucky should not apply to the appellant association, although it is argued in brief of appellant that they do not.
As all the facts concerning how the alleged false statements were embraced in the written application for insurance were set forth in the pleading's, it was unnecessary to aver that the mistakes came about through fraud, oversight or mistake in reducing the contract to writing. We have held that the insertion of false statements by the agent of the company would estop the company to deny its liability on the policy, if the insured was acting in good faith.
No reason being shown why the judgment should be reversed it is affirmed.