Court Opinion

ID: 9586738
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:14:24.854743+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:49.045007
License: Public Domain

Felton, Chief Judge,
dissenting. The policy provision relating to the payment of premiums is clear. Even if it is subject to different constructions, construed against the company it means that any receipt in the form of a valid receipt which was signed by any authorized agent would be sufficient. It seems clear to me also that the provision provides for a forfeiture of the policy, with exceptions not applicable in this case, if the premiums were not paid as provided in the policy. If premiums were not paid as provided they were not paid and the policy lapsed so far as this action is concerned. The ruling in Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Smith, 51 Ga. App. 862, supra, is not in point in this case. The provision for the payment of premiums in that case and in this is to insure receipt of the premium by duly authorized officers of. the company. In the Smith case the check for premiums was made payable to the company and was presumably indorsed by an authorized official, which satisfied the requirements of the policy. There is no such proof in this case and the ruling in this case restricts the right of contract to the point where a party cannot by contract protect itself against the fraud of its own agents and that of those dealing with it through its agents.
This court has on several occasions adjudicated the validity of policy provisions governing the time and manner of the payment of premiums. In Illinois Life Ins. Co. v. McKay, 6 Ga. App. 285(1) (64 S. E. 1131) it was held: “The provision for the punctual payment of the premium when due is of the essence and substance of life insurance, and a failure to comply therewith in strict accordance with the requirements of the contract, in the absence of any waiver, express or implied, inevitably results in a forfeiture of the policy.” See also in this connection Forrester v. State Farm Mutual Ins. Co., 97 Ga. App. 618 (2) (103 S. E. 2d 619) and citations. In Kirk v. Kansas City Life *666Ins. Co., 58 Ga. App. 573 (199 S. E. 433) a verdict for the insurer was demanded where the agent was not authorized to receive payments or issue receipts for deferred or renewal premiums and where the policy sued on provided that only the first year’s premium might be paid to the agent and where the evidence showed a payment to the agent of a sum sufficient to cover part of the second year’s premium, which sum was not remitted to the company or accepted by if.
The validity of a provision as to the manner in which premium payments must be recorded bearing a striking similarity to the policy provision in the present case was upheld by the Supreme Court of Alabama in Liberty Nat’l Life Ins. Co. v. House, 242 Ala. 322 (6 So. 2d 412). In that case the policy provided that “all premiums are payable at the home, office of the company weekly in advance, but may be paid to an authorized representative of the company, provided that such payment must be entered at the time in the premium receipt book belonging with this policy.” Adopting the reasoning contained in Dominico v. Prudential Ins. Co., 49 Pa. Super. 156, the Alabama Supreme Court held that it was a question for the jury as to whether the failure to comply with the policy provision was on account of the fraud, accident or mistake of the defendant’s agent, and whether a sufficient reason was shown why the entry was not made in the book.
It appears to me that the provision in the present policy requiring payment to be recorded on a proper company receipt form is a reasonable one for the protection of the company and that any person claiming under such policy must, in the absence of such a receipt, present sufficient evidence that the failure to comply with the policy provision was on account of the fraud, accident or mistake of the insurer’s agent. The jury could find from the evidence that a payment was made to the, defendant’s authorized agent on June 7, 1954, but there is no evidence that such payment was “recorded on a proper company receipt fonn signed by such agent” as the policy requires. I do not think that under the facts in this record the failure to comply with this provision of the policy was due to the fraud, accident or mistake of the agent. A new trial should therefore have been granted on the general grounds.