N.Y. Life Insurance Co. v. Weiss

The decree, in my opinion, nullifies appellants' basic contractual rights. It canceled a "contract for reinstatement" of the policy upon the ground that it had been procured by a fraudulent misrepresentation of a material fact, in that the insured, in failing to disclose the attendance of a physician (Dr. Emery Krausz) in June, 1937, "did not truthfully answer" one of the inquiries put to him by the insurer, and thus "was guilty of equitable fraud," if not conscious fraud.

At the time of the issuance of the policy, the insured was forty-seven years of age. There is no contention that there was…