Jeffries v. Life Insurance
Supreme Court of the United States
Error to the Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Jeffries, administrator of Kenned}, sued the Economical Life Insurance Company, of Providence, Rhode Island, in the court below, alleging that on the 19th of October, 1870, the said company issued a policy of insurance upon the life of the deceased for $5000; that Kennedy died in August, 1871, and that notice had been given to the company of his death, payment of the amount of insurance demanded and refused.
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Error to the Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Jeffries, administrator of Kenned}, sued the Economical Life Insurance Company, of Providence, Rhode Island, in the court below, alleging that on the 19th of October, 1870, the said company issued a policy of insurance upon the life of the deceased for $5000; that Kennedy died in August, 1871, and that notice had been given to the company of his death, payment of the amount of insurance demanded and refused. The policy, which the declaration set out at length, contained the clauses following, viz.: “This policy is issued by the…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Hunt
The contention in opposition to the judgment is this: that the plea does not aver that the false statements made by the assured were material to the risk assumed. Is that averment necessary to make the plea a good one?
It is contended, also, that the false answers in the present case were not to the injury of the company, that they presented the applicant’s case in a less favorable light to himself than if he had answered truly. Thus, to the inquiry are you married or single, when he falsely answered that he was single, he made himself a less eligible candidate for insurances than if he had…
2Cited by99 opinions
- Moulor v. American Life InsuranceSupreme Court of the United States · 1884
- Phoenix Life Ins. Co. v. RaddinSupreme Court of the United States · 1887
- Penn Mut. Life Ins. v. Mechanics' Savings Bank & Trust Co.Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · 1896
- Aetna Life Insurance v. MooreSupreme Court of the United States · 1913
- Schwarzbach v. Ohio Valley Protective UnionWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1885
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