Helmbold v. Independent Order of Puritans

Citations

• 61 Pa. Super. 164
• 1915 Pa. Super. LEXIS 286

Syllabus

<p>Insurance — Life insurance — Attaching by-laws to policy — Insanity — Act of May 11,1881, P. L. SO.</p> <p>Where a beneficial association issues a straight policy of life insurance it cannot set up as a defense to the payment of the policy, the fact the insured was insane at the time the policy was taken out, and that the by-laws of the association required that a member be sound in mind and body, if it appears that the by-laws were not attached to the policy as required by the Act of May 11,1881, P. L. 20.</p> <p>In such a case the association after having paid an annuity to the widow of the insured for four years, cannot allege as a ground for stopping further payments that the mental condition of the insured had not been disclosed to the company, if it appears that at the time the policy was issued there was no request for representation, declarations, warranties or medical examination on the part of the insurer, and this is especially so, if it appears that the proofs of death showed that the insured had died of paresis in an insane asylum only a few months after the policy was issued.</p>