Insurance Commissioner v. Mutual Life Insurance Co. of New York

HARRELL, Judge.

This appeal requires us to determine if we shall recognize an “exist/manifest” distinction when interpreting the phrase “existed prior to”, in a statutorily required incontestability clause contained in a disability insurance policy. The statute prohibits an insurer from turning down any claim for disability (as defined in the policy), starting after two years from the policy’s inception, on the grounds that a disease or physical condition existed prior to the policy’s inception. The provisions of the policy at issue here define “disability” in terms of the insured having a…