Continental Life Insurance v. Rogers

Citations

• 119 Ill. 474
• 10 N.E. 242

Syllabus

<p>1. Life insurance—of the application—whether a warranty or merely a representation—of the relative■ effect. As a general rule, where the application for insurance on a person’s life is expressly declared to be a part of the policy, and the statements therein are warranted to be true, such statements will be deemed material, whether they are so or not; and if shown to-be false, there can he no recovery on the policy, however innocently made, and notwithstanding their falsity may have no agency in causing the loss or producing the death of the insured. But this rule is subject to some qualifications amjl exceptions.</p> <p>2. Where.the statement in a policy of insurance, that the answers) statements, etc.-, in the application, “are warranted by the assured to be true in all respects,” is followed by the further statement, “that if this policy has been obtained by or through any fraud, misrepresentation or concealment, said policy shall be absolutely null and void,” which fraud, etc., relates to the answers to the questions in the application, such of the answers not material to the risk as were honestly made in the belief they were true, will not he binding on the assured, or present any obstacle to a recovery.</p> <p>3. Same—notice and proof of death—waiver as to sufficiency. Where notice and proof of the death of the assured, in the case of a life policy, have been made out and delivered to the insurer in due time, and they are retained by it without objection, it can not, when sued on the policy, question their sufficiency.</p> <p>4. So where an insurance company, after the death of the assured has-occurred, places its refusal to pay upon some ground not affecting the merits of the ease, as, for instance, want of proper notice, all other formal objections not then urged or pointed out will be regarded as waived. If the refusal to pay is placed upon the ground of fraud, breach of warranty, or other grounds affecting the binding force of the insurance contract, th