Court Opinion

ID: 9625780
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:51:05.346292+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:15.206588
License: Public Domain

Eberhardt, Presiding Judge,
concurring in the judgment, and dissenting in part. I am in agreement with and concur in rulings made in Divisions 1, 3, and 4 of the majority opinion, and with the judgment of affirmance. However, I can not agree with the conclusion in Division 2 that there must be an actual delivery to the insured of a manifestation of the insured’s willingness to renew the policy, such as, for instance, a statement for the premium for the renewal.
This ruling places a higher requirement upon the evidencing of a willingness to renew than does the statute or the ruling as to what is necessary to evidence an unwillingness to renew, or an intention to cancel the coverage.
The statute itself makes no requirement of actual delivery. See Ga. L. 1968, pp. 1126, 1127 (Code Ann. § 56-2430.1 (C, D)). Rather, it provides that notice of an intention not to renew, or to cancel, shall be sufficient if mailed "to the named insured at the address shown in the policy.” No provision of the law requires proof that the notice was actually received by the insured. See and compare St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. C. I. T. Corp., 55 Ga. App. 101, 103 (189 SE 390); Genone v. Citizens Ins. Co., 207 Ga. 83, 86 (60 SE2d 125).
As to notice of an intention to renew, the statute provides that this may be accomplished by delivering a renewal policy or certificate, or offering to issue a renewal policy or certificate, or by the manifestation of such an intention by any other means.
*239There is evidence in the record which, if believed, would authorize a finding that a notice of the premium charge for renewing the policy was sent to the insured at the address listed on the policy, albeit this was done by a computer into which the information was placed and which automatically mailed out such notices unless action were taken to cancel the mailing. The insured had moved from 2995 Piedmont Road, the address shown on the policy to 1393 West Peachtree Street, some weeks or months before expiration of the policy period. She testified that she had filed with the Post Office a change of address notice, and denied that she ever received such a notice from the company.
These facts were sufficient to raise a jury issue as to whether the notice was mailed. If the jury should believe that it was mailed, but not received, it is my view that by the mailing of the notice to the address listed on the policy the intention to renew was manifested, whether the notice was received or not, and hence was within the statutory requirement, and, having thus complied, failure of the insured to remit the premium resulted in terminating the coverage at the end of the policy period. If, on the other hand, the jury should believe that the notice was not mailed at all, it would be authorized to find that there had been no action by any means to inform the insured of its willingness to continue the coverage upon payment of the premium, and the policy was continued in force by operation of law.
This situation is not, as the majority suggests, similar to or the same as that in the ordinary situation where one party seeks to enter into a contract with another as an original proposition by the making of an offer. Certainly, in that stance the offer must be made known to the other party, for otherwise he cannot act upon it. Here there was a contract already in existence, and a statute which, contrary to the usual situation, continues the contract in existence unless one of the parties (the insurer) declines to continue it by the mailing of a notice — which it is not required that the insured receive. Surely, if the insurer is willing to continue the contract upon the payment of the premium there is no greater burden in the giving of notice to the insured. I cannot so construe the statute.
I agree, however, that the evidence was such that the jury was authorized to conclude that no notice indicating a willingness to continue the contract in effect was mailed to the insured, and thus I concur in the judgment.