Knysak v. Shelter Life Insurance

"Born but to die, and reas’ning but to err;”

Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, Epistle II.

The appellate courts definitely need some direction from the supreme court in defining "misrepresentation,” when construing applications for automobile, health, or life insurance. What has happened is that in Campbell v. Prudential Insurance Co. of America (1958), 15 Ill. 2d 308, 155 N.E.2d 9, the supreme court held that the "or” in section 154 of the Insurance Code of 1937 (now 215 ILCS 5/154 (West 1992)) should be construed in the disjunctive rather than in the conjunctive. That section reads as follows:

"…