Baer v. State Life Insurance

Citations

• 256 Pa. 177
• 100 A. 745
• 1917 Pa. LEXIS 584

Syllabus

<p>Insurance — Life insure,nee — Medical questions — Answers—Representations — Warranties.</p> <p>1. Where in. an action on a life insurance policy, it appeared that it was agreed that the statements in response to the medical questions were part of the consideration for which the policy was issued, and that the policy should not take effect unless the insured was in good health when the first premium was paid, that in answering the medical questions, the insured said he was in good health as far as he knew or believed, but where it appeared that plaintiff could not have been in perfect health when he applied for the policy, the case was for the jury, where there was no evidence that plaintiff knew or had reason to believe that he was then diseased.</p> <p>2. Where in such case it appeared that in response to a question whether the insured had “consulted a physician within the past year for anything trivial or otherwise, not mentioned above” and the insured replied “no,” but where there was evidence that he had consulted a physician, with reference to headaches and indigestion, the case was for the jury, where the dates of those consultations were not fixed and especially where a further question as to when the insured last consulted a physician was not answered; in any event, the credibility of the witness was for the jury.</p> <p>3. Where in such case it was not clear as to whether the questions as to the names of physicians last consulted by the applicant referred to an attending physician or a consulting physician, and the applicant gave the name of a consulting physician it was proper to permit the jury to determine whether the applicant might not have understood the questions in the sense in which they wore answered, and it was not material whether or not the answer was strictly accurate where the applicant gave the names of both physicians who attended him, as in such case the company could have inquired of such physicians as to the health of the applicant.</