126 F. 635 | 8th Cir. | 1903
This was an action brought by the beneficiaries upon a policy of insurance on the life of Elias H. Webb, of Denver, Colo., issued by the Security Mutual Fife Insurance Company of New York. The policy having been issued, Webb having died, due proofs of death and of the insurable interest of the plaintiffs having been made, the questions in the case concern the affirmative defenses interposed by the company, only one of which, however, need be noticed. Webb made the application for the policy upon his life. It was by express terms constituted a part of the policy itself; and it was therein agreed that the answers and explanations given to the various questions set forth should be the only basis of the contract between him and the company, that each and every statement and answer so made was material to the risk, and each of them was warranted by him to be full, complete, and true. It was further agreed in the application that if any such statement or answer was not full and complete, or was untrue in any respect, then, the policy of insurance issued thereon should be null and void. Among the questions contained in the application for the policy was the following: “Has any proposal or application to insure your life ever been made to any company, association or agent, upon which a policy has not been issued, or upon which a policy has been issued at a
This is the second time this cause has been before this court. At the first trial in the court below a verdict for the plaintiffs was directed, but the judgment resting thereon was reversed by this court and the cause remanded for a new trial. Security Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Webb, 106 Fed. 808, 45 C. C. A. 648, 55 L. R. A. 122. A more detailed statement of the facts of the case may be found in the opinion there reported. At the second trial, which is the subject of the present review, the Circuit Court directed a verdict for the defendant. The only material change in the situation is that at the last trial counsel for the plaintiffs offered to prove that when Webb signed Part I of the application for insurance in the Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association he stated to the soliciting agent of that association that it was not to become operative as a request for insurance unless he afterwards decided that he desired a policy if he should be ac
The judgment of the Circuit Court is affirmed.