Germania Life Insurance v. Bouldin

Citations

• 100 Miss. 660
• 56 So. 609

Syllabus

<p>1. Paeol Evidence. Written contract. Life insurance. Knowledge of terms. Principal and agent. Presumptions.</p> <p>Where a life insurance policy is delivered and accepted, in the absence of fraud, the policy alone speaks the contract between the parties, and any representations or statements made outside of the policy, either verbal or written, are inadmissible to show the terms of the contract.</p> <p>2. Life Insurance. Terms of policy. Equitahle relief.</p> <p>Where a life insurance company forwarded a policy to its agent for delivery to insured, who accepted the policy without notice that a rider has been placed thereon by the agent without authority from the company to do so, and shortly before the expiration of the tontine period insured demanded settlement in accordance with terms of the rider,'while the company relied on the printed terms of the policy and showed that the rider had been placed on the policy by its agent without authority. Held, that in a bill in equity filed by the insured to compel the company to perform the contract as disclosed by the rider, or for a decree against the insurer for all the premiums paid, the court could not enter a decree for insured for all the premiums, since insured suing in equity must do equity, and it would be inequitable to require the company to refund all the premiums, while it was bound for the full amount of the policy in case insured had died during the life of the policy. The insured should pay for -such protection afforded him during the life of the policy.</p> <p>3. Insurance Policy. Knowledge of terms. Presumptions.</p> <p>In the absence of any fraud in the making of an insurance policy, the insured must be held to a knowledge of the conditions of his policy as he would be. in the case of any other contract or agreement.</p> <p>4. Same.</p> <p>Although a party may not have read the provisions of his policy, and relied in ignorance of them upon the express representations of the agent, this fact cannot hel