Court Opinion

ID: 9656023
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 19:31:12.83448+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:26.722690
License: Public Domain

Caporale, J.,
concurring.
I agree that Mutual Benefit did not ask the proper questions to elicit information concerning Mr, *309Long’s drinking habits. That circumstance, together with Mutual Benefit’s own testimony that the injuries sustained in the automobile accident were not of underwriting concern, leads me to concur in the result reached in this case.
My misgiving arises from the confusion which appears to surround the restated rule that once an insurer gives a reason for its conduct and decision, it cannot, after litigation has begun, change its ground and put its conduct upon another and different consideration. The cases cited by the majority certainly establish that the rule exists and has been applied in insurance cases. Indeed, the rule has been applied in certain. noninsurance cases as, for example, situations in which no objective evidence of some later asserted reason existed. See, Kucera v. Kavan, 165 Neb. 131, 84 N.W.2d 207 (1957); Powers v. Bohuslav, 84 Neb. 179, 120 N.W. 942 (1909); Frenzer v. Dufrene, 58 Neb. 432, 78 N.W. 719 (1899). See, also, Tate & Ehrhardt v. Loney, 85 Neb. 559, 123 N.W. 1050 (1909).
I respectfully suggest, however, that such a rule makes no sense in the absence of showing detrimental reliance upon the prior statements or conduct. The rule, after all, is one of estoppel. Estoppel ordinarily requires as one of its elements proof that the party asserting the doctrine has been prejudiced by good faith reliance upon the statements or conduct of the other party. Lovell v. City of Kearney, 200 Neb. 478, 263 N.W.2d 867 (1978); Christian v. Geis, 193 Neb. 146, 225 N.W.2d 868 (1975); Willan v. Farrar, 176 Neb. 1, 124 N.W.2d 699 (1963). I would make clear that, as an element of the rule, good faith detrimental reliance upon an insurer’s prior statements or conduct must be shown.
Boslaugh and McCown, JJ., join in this concurrence.