Mechling v. Philadelphia Life Insurance

Citations

• 53 Pa. Super. 526
• 1913 Pa. Super. LEXIS 214

Syllabus

<p>Insurance — Life insurance — Authority of agent — Agreement to return premium — Act of May S, 1909, P. L. IfiB.</p> <p>1. An agent of a life insurance company who has authority only to negotiate insurance, cannot bind his company by an agreement made without the knowledge or consent of the company with a. person who pays his first year’s premium to the agent for a policy immediately to be issued, by which agreement the premium is to be repaid if the company does not make a mortgage loan to the insured within a time specified. Even if the company agreed to such a contract, or ratified the act of its agent, the contract would be void as an illegal inducement prohibited by the Act of May 3,1909, P. L. 405.</p> <p>2. In such a case a settlement between the agent and the insurance company as to the premium paid, will not constitute a ratification of the collateral contract and bind the company, if it had no knowledge of the terms of the agreement between the agent and the insured.</p>