Court Opinion

ID: 9446174
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 21:48:43.026178+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:30:33.722763
License: Public Domain

On Petition for Rehearing.
PER CURIAM.
Appellant argues that owing to the fact that no one has ever been able to determine what stage of nephritis the deceased had when he took out the policy and when he died, that appellee failed to sustain her burden of showing that the cause of the sickness did not occur within the prohibited fifteen day time limit. Appellant places much emphasis on Meth v. United Benefit Life Insurance Company, 3 Cir., 1952, 198 F.2d 446, 447. This case held that: “Though we have referred to ‘prior origin’ as a defense of the insurance company, actually it was incumbent upon the plaintiff to show that Meth’s disability was within the coverage of the policies.” The court was construing the state law of Pennsylvania. The law of Louisiana is just the opposite, and such clauses have been construed as being special defenses because they exclude coverage, and the insurance company has the burden of proof. Telford v. New York Life Insurance Company, 1955, 227 La. 855, 80 So.2d 711; Mataya v. Delta Life Insurance Company, La.App.1954, 71 So.2d 139; Catchot v. Delta Life Insurance Company, La.App.1952, 57 So.2d 919, 921, 922. The general rule is that the insurer must prove that the insured was not in sound health when the policy was *473issued. The court in the Catchot case said:
“* * * [W]e now hold that where a policy, in large type and as a part of the coverage, provides that a specific amount will be paid for a specific loss, and then, in much smaller type and in another paragraph headed ‘Provisions’, stipulates that the payment will be made only if the disease which causes the loss comes into being after the issuance of the policy, Ihe burden is on the defendant to show that the disease was in existence before the policy was issued and that that same disease caused the loss.”
It is ordered that the petition for rehearing filed in the above styled and numbered cause be, and the same is hereby
Denied.