Nydes v. Royal Neighbors of America
Nydes v. Royal Neighbors of America
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The action was brought to recover on a benefit certificate issued by the Royal Neighbors, a fraternal beneficial association, to one Peter Nydes, in the sum of two thousand dollars, in which Bessie Nydes, wife of said Peter, was named as the beneficiary. It was defended against on the ground that in his application for membership in the association the insured had made material misrepresentations and concealments as to his physical health, the medical history of himself and his parentál kin, and his own personal habits as well. It is not necessary to recite the various provisions in the application for membership, in the laws of the association, and the admissions and waivers contained in the medical examination, on which defendant relied to escape liability. It is sufficient to say that once the material misrepresentations and concealments complained of were established at law recovery on the policy was thereby made impossible. At the conclusion of the evidence defendant moved for binding instructions. This motion was declined and exceptions to the ruling granted. In a charge to which no exception was taken the court submitted the case to the jury, and upon a verdict being returned for the plaintiff for the amount of the policy, a motion for judgment non obstante followed. Upon the refusal of this motion the
The refusal of the court to usurp the jury’s prerogative in this case — for it would have come to this had the court either given binding instructions or entered judgment non obstante — being the only matter here complained of, and the court’s action in that regard being free from error, nothing is left us but to affirm the judgment, and it is now so ordered.
Reference
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- Syllabus
- Beneficial associations — Membership application — Physical condition — Misrepresentations —Death benefit — Uncontradicted oral evidence — Case for jury■ — ■New trials — Practice, Supreme Qourt. 1. Where a case depends on oral testimony, although unContradicted, such testimony must be submitted to the jury. 2. Where a verdict is against the weight of the evidence a new trial should be awarded; but where no motion for a new trial is made, the Supreme Court will not reverse a judgment entered on'a verdict although inclined to the view that a different result would better accord with the demands of justice. 3. In an action against a beneficial association on a death certificate, where the defense was that in the application for membership in the defendant association deceased had made material misrepresentations and concealments as to his physical condition and medical history, and in particular a statement to the effect that he had not consulted a physician in regard to personal ailments within a certain time, the case was for the jury and .a verdict for the plaintiff will be sustained, although there .was uncontradicted testimony of an attending physician that at the very time the insured submitted his application for membership he was and had been for some time a patient receiving treatment for tuberculosis, from which he died shortly thereafter.