Northwestern Life Insurance v. Muskegon Bank

Citations

• 122 U.S. 501
• 7 S. Ct. 1221
• 30 L. Ed. 1100
• 1887 U.S. LEXIS 2129

Syllabus

<p>An application for a policy of life insurance contained these questions and answers: Q. “Are you, or have .you ever been, in the habit of using alcoholic beverages or other stimulants ?” A.. “Yes, occasionally.”' Q. “Have you read and assented to the following agreement'?”- A. “Yes.” The agreement referred to contained the following:. “It is hereby declared that the above-are the applicant’s own fair and true answers to the*foregoing questions, and that the applicant is not, and will not become, habitually intemperate or addicted to the use of opium.”. The policy declared that if the. assured should become intemperate so as to impair his health or induce delirium tremens, or if any statement in the ' application, on the faith of which the policy was made, should be found ,to be in any material respect untrue, the policy should be void. The assured having died, his creditor for whose benefit the insurance was made sued the insurer to recover on the policy. The defendant set up (1) that at the time of making the policy the insured was and had been habitually intemperate, and that his statements on which the policy had been issued were fraudulent and untrue; (2) That after the policy was issued he became so intemperate as to impair his health and to induce delirium tremens. On both these issues the- insurer assumed the affirmative, taking the opening and close at the trial. Held:</p> <p>(1) That the opinion of a witness as to the effect upon,the assured at the time of the issue of the policy, of a habit of drunkenness five years before that date (the witness knowing nothing of. them, during the ;. intervening period), was properly excluded.</p> <p>(2) That under the 1st'issue the-defendant was bound to prove that the assured was habitually intemperate when the policy issued; and under the 2d, that he was so after it issued.</p> <p>(3) That while in a very clear case a court may assume on the one hand that certain facts disclose a case of habitual intemperance, or on