Court Opinion

ID: 9851085
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:07:16.679767+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:48.413697
License: Public Domain

Deen, Judge,
dissenting. It is perfectly obvious that in the absence of any limitation on the authority of the insurance agent contained in the application a jury question would be presented under the evidence whether the applicant made full disclosure of his wife’s eye condition to the agent and whether the latter in writing up the application told the applicant it contained the information required. “The actual knowledge of an insurance agent, like that of any other agent, pertaining to facts concerning matters within the scope of his agency is imputable as actual knowledge to his principal. What the agent knows within the scope of his agency, the principal knows." Reserve Life Ins. Co. v. Ayers, 217 Ga. 206 (3a) (121 SE2d 649).
*635To warrant summary judgment for the defendant there must be no room for controversy; it must be shown that the plaintiff •could not recover under any discernible circumstances. Watkins v. Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 113 Ga. App. 801, 802 (149 SE2d 749).
The only issue here is whether the limitation on the agent’s .authority as set out in the majority opinion is sufficient to block plaintiff from urging an estoppel based on the knowledge and acts of the defendant’s agent because any omission of pertinent information from the application was, under plaintiff’s evidence, solely attributable to the defendant’s agent. It was the defendant’s agent who filled out plaintiff’s application, and •defendant’s agent who told plaintiff that what the insurance •company wanted on the application concerning the eye condition was date of the last eye examination and name and address of the examining doctor. It was defendant’s agent who entered these facts, and defendant’s agent who omitted the names of prior doctors and prior treatment. The applicant signed an authorization for the company to obtain information from the ■doctors. If Dr. Fair had been contacted, as two other doctors listed on the application in fact were contacted by the insurer, the company would have obtained from Dr. Fair all the information concerning the eye condition, including prior treatment, names of other physicians involved, etc. Dr. Fair was the doctor in charge of plaintiff’s wife’s eye case, had all pertinent history on its development, and had treated her for the past two years.
The part of the application form in dispute, which was printed up by the defendant and filled in by the defendant’s agent, looks like this: (See page 636)
Obviously, any further information would have to be put on another sheet of paper, and defendant’s agent said he had filled in hundreds of applications and never used a second sheet of paper. The average applicant for insurance who is assured by the insurer’s agent that what the insurer wants to know about a stated disability is the name of the present doctor and last visit is going to believe that agent, especially where the insurer itself prepares a form that includes no room for further information, *637and where the information given, together with the right to contact the doctor, makes all information available to the insurer for the asking.

*636

*637There was no untrue statement on this application. Was it “complete?” The agent filed it in and told the applicant that it was. But the agent could not “Waive the answer to any question . . . waive a condition applicable to coverage . . . modify this application” or bind the company by “making any promise or representation or by giving or receiving any information.” The agent did not attempt to get the applicant not to answer any question. He did not attempt to change coverage conditions. He made no promise except that “in the event the policy came back from the company without a waiver deponent and his wife would be fully covered.” What about giving and receiving information? If the agent could not give or receive any information there would be no point in sending him out to talk to prospects. The words must be given some reasonable interpretation other than that an insurance agent is a deaf-mute. “Complete” means “possessing all necessary parts, items, components or elements.” Webster, Unabridged Dictionary. I think all “necessary” information was included here because had the company used the information given, all other facts would have been available to it.
The majority opinion puts the burden on an applicant for insurance to guess at his peril what information the company will regard as “complete” for its purposes, and in making the decision he must disregard the construction of the application given him by the insurer’s agent. If he listens to the agent’s construction of the meaning of the application, or if he guesses wrong, the policy is void. In my opinion this places an undue burden on the insurance-buying public, and opens more doors to fraud than it closes.
I am authorized to state that Chief Judge Bell and Judges Pannell and Evans agree with this dissent.