Court Opinion

ID: 9849051
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:33:43.394734+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:18:58.574546
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
Counsel for defendant in error insists on motion for rehearing that this court should follow the case of American Trust *875Co. v. American Cent. Life Ins. Co., 5 F2d 69, 71, and the case of Hubach v. Mid-Continent Life Ins. Co., 228 Ark. 926 (311 SW2d 307) (cited in the minority opinion), on the question of double indemnity for accidental death, there being no controlling precedents in Georgia.
An examination of these cases, however, readily discloses that they are not at all in point on the issue in dispute in the instant .case. The sole issue in these cases was the definition to be given to the term “premium paying period,” it being clearly provided in the policies involved therein that, as a condition precedent to recovery, the death of the insured must occur during said premium paying period. The language used in the policy under consideration in the Hubach case, supra, is set forth as follows: “Upon receipt of due proof that the death of the insured was caused directly, independently and exclusively . . . from bodily injuries effected solely through external, violent and purely accidental means . . . and that such death occurred (a) within the premium paying period, and (b) before the insured attained the age of 60 years, and (c) before a default in any premium, and (d) within thirty days from the date of such accident, the company will pay double the face amount of this policy in full settlement hereof.”
It can thus be seen how such provisions can be clearly expressed and enumerated. A comparison of the language used in the policy in the Hubach case, supra, with that used in the policy under consideration in the instant case can only lead one to the conclusion that while such conditions can be stated in clear and unambiguous language it was not done in this case. The language used in the instant policy was vague, evasive and ambiguous, and was easily susceptible of the construction that if the policy was maintained in full force and effect during the premium paying period, then the accidental death benefits would be applicable after the cessation of the premium paying period provided that the death of the insured occurred after the date of the policy and between the ages of 10 and 60. Under the principles of construction set forth in the majority opinion, that construction most favorable to the insured had to be adopted.

Motion for rehearing denied.