Court Opinion

ID: 9587528
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:23:17.647199+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:58:35.054212
License: Public Domain

Felton, Chief Judge,
dissenting. The insurance policy involved here provided that it was renewable every thirty days at the option of the company only. There was only one policy which insured Mr. Peavy and his wife. The correspondence by the company with Mr. Peavy is shown in Reserve Life Ins. Co. v. Peavy, 95 Ga. App. 195 (97 S. E. 2d 542). The company desired to continue Mr. Peavy’s insurance but did not desire to insure Mrs. Peavy. Whether it used the wisest method to obtain the results it wanted, it seems to me that it had a right to contest the issue as to whether it was estopped under the circumstances to contend that Mr. Peavy’s insurance had not been extended without being penalized. There was no evidence that the company had no good reason to discontinue Mrs. Peavy’s insurance. In addition to the above the question as to whether Mr. Peavy was in good health and free from disease at the date of the issue of the policy and for fifteen days thereafter was a close question and "the jury could have found either way.
I think the verdict for penalty and attorney’s fees was unauthorized. American Nat. Ins. Co. v. Holbert, 50 Ga. App. 527, 528 (179 S. E. 219); Life & Cas. Ins. Co. of Tenn. v. Freemon, 80 Ga. App. 443, 444 (56 S. E. 2d 303); Albergotti v. Equitable Life Assurance Soc. of the United States, 48 Fed. Supp. 290, 291; Cotton States Life Ins. Co. v. Edwards, 74 Ga. 220 (4); Travelers Ins. Co. v. Sheppard, 85 Ga. 751 (4) (12 S. E. 18); Southern Ins. Co. v. Ray, 40 Ga. App. 262 (149 S. E. 304); Life & Cas. Ins. Co. v. Blackburn, 59 Ga. App. 479 (1 S. E. 2d 450); New *280York Life Ins. Vo. v. Ittner, 64 Ga. App. 806 (14 S. E. 2d 203); Pearl Assurance Co., Ltd. v. Nichols, 73 Ga. App. 452 (37 S. E. 2d 227).