Interstate Life & Accident Insurance v. Reid
Interstate Life & Accident Insurance v. Reid
Opinion of the Court
The life-insurance policy sued on lapsed for nonpayment of premiums, on May 13, 1935. In the latter part of July, or the first part of August, 1935, the insured sent a money order for $10.80, to the company, receipt of which was acknowledged on August 3, in which letter it was stated: “It will be necessary to revive this business; and we would like to have your street address, so that we can have some one see you personally.” This letter was returned by the post-office, undelivered. The money order was placed in the insurer’s safe, and was not cashed until after the death of the insured. On August 14, a letter was received from the insured, asking why he had not received a receipt for his money order. The company, in reply, wrote to the insured, explaining the non-delivery of the letter of August 3, and stating further: “The revival application was turned over to the home office for inspection, and this was sent back to us for your address. When your money order reached us your grace period was up,
1. Eegardless of whether the revival application reached the insurer before the death of the insured, there had been no action on the application, and therefore the policy was not in force and effect at the time of his death. The company had the "option” to reinstate or not, in its pleasure or discretion, with or without good reason, and was under no legal obligation to reinstate on payment of arrears and evidence of insurability. It is immaterial that the insurer might have actually prevented a reinstatement by negligent delays in attending to the application and in putting it through the process of final approval. See The Prœtorians v. Cook, 50 Ga. App. 691 (179 S. E. 147). Nor did the conditional aceept
Judgment reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.