Court Opinion

ID: 9762232
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 02:17:19.693963+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:32.200450
License: Public Domain

HOGAN, Judge
(concurring).
I concur, although I am bound to say that were the case to be resolved wholly and solely upon my personal judgment, I would accept the finding of ambiguity with some reserve. With deference to the opinion of others, I would construe the “Graduated Benefits” provision flatly against the insurer, upon the record presented. I believe that the phrase “or from any chronic disease” qualifies the meaning of the words “TUBERCULOSIS, CANCER, HEART DISEASE, OR APOPLEXY,” so that the fair intendment of the “Graduated Benefits” provision is to reduce payment only to those who were afflicted with some chronic form of the diseases mentioned at the time the risk attached. The Supreme Court of Illinois came to a similar conclusion in Swann *822v. National Union Ben. Ass’n, 357 Ill. 78, 191 N.E. 224, 225 [1-3], in a similar situation, and I would adopt the reasoning applied there.