Court Opinion

ID: 9588285
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:32:23.055067+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:10:50.622709
License: Public Domain

Brailsford, Justice
(concurring).
Under the common law, a warranty is a statement by the insured on the literal truth of which the validity of the contract depends. This rule has been modified as to accident and health policies of insurance by Sec. 37-451, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1952. However, the rights of the parties need not be referred to the statute because by the very language of the application, which is quoted in the opinion of the Chief Justice, the applicant’s answers were made to the best of his knowledge. This is irreconcilable with the claim that the parties intended them as warranties, thus making the validity of the policy depend upon their literal truth. The fact that the application was attached to the policy in accordance with Sec. 37-146, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1952, and made a part of the contract did not change the essential character of the answers as representations. 45 C. J. S., Insurance, § 473 (4) b. Since appellant’s exceptions to the Court’s refusal to direct a verdict are based on the mistaken premise that the applicant’s answers were warranties, they must be overruled.