Simon v. New York Life Insurance

Citations

• 70 Pa. Super. 408
• 1918 Pa. Super. LEXIS 263

Syllabus

<p>Insurance — Life insurance — Misstatement as to age — Evidence— Sworn statement in judicial proceedings — Pedigree—Words and phrases — Declaration against interest.</p> <p>The term “pedigree” embraces not only descent and relationship, but also the facts of birth, marriage and death and the time when these events happened.</p> <p>The declaration of a man as to the date of his birth, and, consequently, as to his age at a given time should, in reason, have the same effect as his like declarations on the identity of his father and mother, or his relationship to any given person.</p> <p>In an action upon a life insurance policy where the company defends on the ground that the insured had materially misstated his age at the time he applied for the policy, it is proper to admit in evidence the record of a suit instituted by the insured three years before he applied for the policy against a son for support, in which he swore to a statement as to his age which would have made him seventy-four years of age at the time he applied for the policy, instead of fifty-six years, the age which he set out in his application for the policy. Such evidence should not be rejected because it is not a declaration against interest.</p>