Carlock v. Phœnix Insurance

Illinois Supreme Court
Carlock v. Phœnix Insurance, 138 Ill. 210 (Ill. 1891)
28 N.E. 53
Scholfield

Carlock v. Phœnix Insurance

Opinion of the Court

Mr. Justice Scholfield

delivered the opinion of the Court: •

We concur in the rulings of the Appellate Court. The case is quite different from one in which, by the terms of the contract, the failure to pay the premium works a forfeiture of the policy. In that case, since there can be no liability to pay premium where there is no liability upon the policy, the acceptance of premium is an implied admission of liability up.on the policy, and it would be a fraud upon the insured to accept .from him payment of premium and at the same time repudiate liability upon his policy. (Lycoming Ins. Co. v. Barringer, 73 Ill. 235, and cases cited.) But here the failure to pay the note at its maturity is not an absolute forfeiture of the rights of the insured under the policy, but a suspension, simply, of those rights until full payment of the note, by which act they -would be revived in all of their original force. The receipt of partial payment of the note waived nothing, for the insured had a right to make payment of the note by partial payments from time to time, and thus to revive the liability of the insurer upon the policy, and what he had a right to pay it was. the duty of the insurer to receive. -That he did not complete, the payment of the note before the loss was in nowise induced by the insurer’s act of receiving partial payments. Curtis v. Phœnix Ins. Co. 78 Cal. 619.

The judgment is affirmed.

Judgment affirmed.

Reference

Full Case Name
A. H. Carlock v. The Phœnix Insurance Company
Cited By
8 cases
Status
Published
Syllabus
1. Insurance—;forfeiture for non-payment—acceptance of premium* Where, by the terms of the contract of insurance against loss by fire, the failure to pay the premium note works a forfeiture of the policy, theacceptanee of the premium is an implied admission of liability upon the policy, and the insurer will not be allowed to accept payment of the premium and at the same time repudiate liability upon the policy. 2. Same—revival of policy after forfeiture. But where the failure of the insured to pay his note given for the premium, at its maturity, is-not an absolute forfeiture of the rights of the insured under the policy, but a suspension, simply, of those rights until full payment, he may, after default, make payment in full, and thus revive his rights in all their original force. 3. Same—partial payments after forfeiture. Where, by a policy of insurance, the insured has the right, after default in payment of his-premium note, to make partial payments, so that when it is fully paid his rights may revive, the acceptance of such partial payments will' waive nothing, and if a loss occurs before full payment the insured can not recover.