GULF LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, A CORPORATION UNDER THE LAWS OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
CORINE GREEN, APPELLEE

Fla. | 1955-03-09
MATHEWS, C. J., and THOMAS and HOBSON, JJ., concur.
80 So. 2d 321 Florida Supreme Court (1955) Caution
Cited by 38 cases

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Synopsis

A life insurance company appealed judgment awarding the policy's face amount to the beneficiary of an insured who died shortly after the policy was issued. The Florida Supreme Court reversed, holding that because the insured was not in sound health at delivery—a condition precedent in the policy—the policy never took effect, and the insurer's liability was limited to returning premiums.


Holding

The policy never took effect because the insured was not in sound health at delivery, violating the express condition precedent. The insurer's liability was limited to returning premiums paid. No waiver or estoppel arose because the insurer and its agent had no knowledge or notice of the insured's health status prior to death, and waiver requires knowledge of that which is to be waived.


Key Quotes

“It is certainly not an unreasonable requirement that the insured be alive and in good health on the date of the delivery of the policy.”

Establishes the court's recognition that sound health clauses are valid and reasonable contractual conditions in life insurance policies.

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Facts & Procedural History

Gulf Life issued a life insurance policy on July 28, 1950, without medical examination, to Corine Green as beneficiary for her daughter. The policy co…

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Opinion of the Court
DREW, Justice.

DREW, Justice.

Appellee, plaintiff below, as beneficiary, of a life insurance policy on her daughter, recovered a judgment against .appellant, defendant below, for the face amount thereof, costs, and, attorneys’ fees. The Insurance Company has appealed.

The policy, which was-issued and delivered without a medical examination of the insured on July 28, 1950, contained this clause: -“This policy shall not take effect unless on' the date of delivery hereof the insured is alive and in sound health.” On August 14, 1950, the-insured was admitted to a Tampa hospital and treated for rheumatic heart disease from complications of which she died on Septembér 20, 1950. It is conceded by all that at the time the policy was issued and delivered the insured was not in sound health, and had been hospitalized for treatment of the same heart disease on three occasions in ¡New York City between May, 1949 and March, 1950.

The form of application for such insurance contained numerous questions about, the .medical status of the insured all of which were filled in by the defendant’s agent with negative answers favoring in-surability. The appellee testified that the agerit asked her only the age and address of the insured and that she signed the application while the other blanks were not filled in arid that the agent at no time inquired of her concerning the health of the insured. She stated further that she had no knowledge of the prior sickness of the insured which occurred in New York while appellee was in Florida.

The Insurance Company contends' that the judgment must be reversed because the sound health clause was violated and the policy therefore never took effect. We agree. This Court long ago recognized the validity of such a-clause. In Gulf Life Ins. Co. v. Ellis, 145 Fla. 262, 198 So. 836, we said, “It is certainly not an unreasonable requirement that the insured be alive and in good health on the date of the delivery of the policy.” Because it is undisputed that the insured was not in sound health at the time of delivery of the policy, its terms did not become effective. See also Karp v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 86 N.H. 124, 164 A. 219; Clark v. Prudential Ins. Co. of America, 219 Wis. 422, 263 N.W. 364. The extent of the liability of the Insurance Company under such circumstances is the return of the premiums paid.

The appellee contends that the Insurance Company may not take advantage of this sound health clause by reason of estoppel or waiver arising from the conduct of its agent in filling in the application without the knowledge and consent of the ap-nellee who was the applicant for the policy. We recognize there may be a waiver or estoppel on the part of an insurance company with reference to a clause requiring the insured to be in good health at a particular time. Johnson v. Life Ins. Co. of Georgia, Fla.1951, 52 So. 2d 813; See 44 C.J.S., Insurance, § 276, page 1103. In this case, however, there is no showing that the Insurance Company or its agent had any knowledge or notice, of the status of the insured!s health at any time prior to her death. There can be no waiver without knowledge express or implied of that which is to be waived. The authorities cited by appellee on this question, such as Johnson v. Life Ins. Co. of Georgia, supra, and Inter-Ocean Casualty Company v. Ervin, 229 Ala. 312, 156 So. 844, are not in point.

Reversed.

MATHEWS, C. J., and THOMAS and HOBSON, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By (21 total)

  • …(1) the existence at the time of the waiver of a right, privilege, advantage, or benefit which may be waived; (2) the actual or constructive knowledge of the right; and (3) the intention to relinquish the right. Gulf Life Insurance Company v. Green, 80 So. 2d 321 (Fla.1955); Gilman v. Butzloff, 155 Fla. 888, 22 So. 2d 263 (1945); Wilds v. Permenter, 228 So. 2d 408 (Fla. 4th DCA 1969). Waiver may be express, or implied from conduct or acts that lead a party to believe a right has been waived. Thomas N. Carlto…
  • Adams v. AETNA Cas. & Sur. Co., 574 So. 2d 1142 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991)
    …could reasonably find, therefore, that Aetna never informed Mr. Adams of his new statutory right as required by the statute. Yet, knowledge of a right is an essential prerequisite to establishing that one has waived it. Gulf Life Ins. Co. v. Green, 80 So. 2d 321, 322 (Fla.1955) (“There can be no waiver without knowledge express or implied of that which is to be waived.”). The 1982 amendment requiring written rejection of UM coverage was undoubtedly prompted by the difficulty under the prior law of proving…
  • Mathews v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., 89 So. 2d 641 (Fla. 1956)
    …etime and continued insurability of the applicant ■* * * ” (emphasis added), and relies on the decisions of this court in Independent Life & Accident Ins. Co. of Florida v. Roddam, Fla.1955, 81 So. 2d 221, and Gulf Life Ins. Co. v. Green, Fla. 1955, 80 So. 2d 321, in support of its contention. But in both the Roddam and Green cases the insurance was issued upon the application of one other than the insured and without a medical examination of the insured. . Here, as has been noted, there was a medical exami…

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