Insurance claim

“ By Tuesday morning you will be able to collect on my life insurance. The proofs are complete. Yes, and genuine too. The doctor, the undertaker, the guides, all honestly believe I’m the corpse, and it does resemble me wonderfully. Lord, but I’ve sweated in working it out! By Tuesday, I say, those [Pg 36] Insurance Companies will be satisfied, and they pay promptly, for the bigger the claim the better the advertisement. But if they delay, the fact of my death will tie up those devils who are trying to down me, for a few days at least. ”

“ The obligation of an insurer in a policy of life insurance is made up of a number of promises, of which one is to pay to the beneficiary the amount of the insurance-the 'proceeds'-and another is to pay the 'surrender value' to the insured upon his demand. ”

“ From the very nature of the contract of insurance as a contract of indemnity, the insurer, when he has paid to the assured the amount of the indemnity agreed on between them, is entitled, by way of salvage, to the benefit of anything that may be received, either from the remnants of the goods, or from damages paid by third persons for the same loss. ”

“ The assured assumes the risk of paying premiums during the life on which the insurance is taken, even though their aggregate amount should exceed the insurance money. He also takes the risk of the forfeiture of his policy if the premiums are not paid on the day they fall due. ”

“ And if any person or persons shall insure his or their buildings or goods, and shall cause the same to be described in the policy otherwise than as they really are, so as the same be charged as a lower premium than would otherwise be demanded, such insurance shall be of no force. ”

“ Where the whole or a part of a insurance contract is null and void, if the policyholder and the insured have acted in good faith and without gross negligence, the insurer may be demanded to return the whole or a part of the premium. ”

“ In the case of an insurance contract covering death as an insured event, the insurer shall not be discharged from its liability, even though the insured event happens by reason of gross negligence of the policyholder, insured or beneficiary. ”

“ If the assured, by his voluntary act, increases the risk, and the fact is not known, the result is that he gets an insurance for which he has not paid.' And again: 'An increase of risk which is substantial, and which is continued for a considerable period of time, changes the basis upon which the contract of insurance rests ”

“ On the other hand, it may be said that the contract of insurance means that the insured is to be indemnified from any loss which he may suffer during the period named in the policy. If he aliens the property insured, it is true that if the property is destroyed when he has no interest therein, it is not possible for him to hold the underwriter, for he has suffered no loss. ”

“ The claimants, under apt allegations in their answer and cross-libel, contended that the amount so paid by the insurance companies should be deducted from the libellant's damages, before bringing them into account with him. ”

“ It is to be observed, that, whether insurance be against fire, or marine loss, or loss of life, it is neither the property nor the life that is insured. Nor does the contract propose or intend to say that there shall be no destruction of the property or loss of life. In point of fact, the obligation of the insurer is designed to come into operation after the loss either of property or life has occurred, and to give compensation to some one interested in the life or the property, for the loss of that life or injury to the property. ”

“ Such is the form of the contract, and such is its character. It has been contended that the payment of each premium is the consideration for insurance during the next following year,-as in fire policies. But the position is untenable. It often happens that the assured pays the entire premium in advance, or in five, ten, or twenty annual instalments. ”

“ The only question before the court is as to the construction of the language of the reinsurance compact. The term 'reinsurance' has a well-known meaning. That kind of a contract has been in force in the commercial world for a long number of years, and it is entirely different from what is termed 'double insurance,' i. e., an insurance of the same interest. The contract is one of indemnity to the person or corporation reinsured, and it binds the reinsurer to pay to the reinsured the whole loss sustained in respect to the subject of the insurance to the extent to which he is reinsured. ”

“ Where several insurance contracts have been made simultaneously or successively with regard to the same subject-matter insured contract and the same events, if the total of the insured amounts exceeds the insurable value, the individual insurer has a joint and several liability up to the amount insured by each one. In this case, each insurer's liability for indemnification is subject to the ratio that the amount insured by each one has to the total insured amounts. ”

“ The object for which insurance exists is to guard against certain accidents to which we are all liable, such as the destruction of property by fire, or the loss of future earnings by disablement or death. An agreement is entered into by which one party, known as the insurer or assurer, agrees to pay to another, called the insured or assured, a certain sum in the event of the particular event insured against happening.
The document which states the conditions of this agreement is called the policy, and the payment made on account of the insurance is known as the premium. ”

“ Chief Justice Brickell, delivering the unanimous judgment of that court, said:
'In all contracts of insurance there is a implied understanding or agreement that the risks insured against are such as the thing insured, whether it is property or health or life, is usually subject to, and the assured cannot voluntarily and intentionally vary them. ”

“ To a person engaged in lightering, one or more lighters or scows and a small boat, not exceeding the aggregate value of two hundred and fifty dollars. To a drayman, his team. To a person engaged in logging, three yokes of work oxen, and implements of the value of three hundred dollars. Proceeds or avails of all life and accident insurance shall be exempt from all liability for any debt. To any person whose exempt property is insured, and destroyed by fire, the insurance money coming to or belonging to the person thus insured to an amount equal to the exempt property thus destroyed. ”

“ In the higher order of life insurances, the legislature has endeavoured to arrest the dangerous tendency of insuring beyond the interest, by providing, by statute 14 Geo. III., c. 48, that persons insuring the lives of others shall have an interest in such lives; and it is a principle of insurance law that where a risk paid for has not been run, the premiums shall be returned ”

“ If the insured does obtain any sum in excess of indemnity, he is regarded as holding it in trust for his whole body of underwriters. It thus appears that in case of multiple insurance each underwriter is bound, as between himself and the other underwriters, to contribute to the loss rateably in proportion to the amount of his liability under the policy; and if any one pays more than his proper share, he is entitled to sue the rest for contribution. ”

“ It appears to me also to be bad policy to insure to a great amount, because by a strange arrangement in all insurance offices, the sum paid for damage is not estimated, as it ought to be, by considering what proportion the damage bears to the whole value of the building, and paying the sufferer the same fraction of the insurance. ”

“ In an ordinary life assurance or endowment assurance contract the policyholder has the knowledge that either he or his dependents are assured of the payment of a sum on the occurrence of an event that must happen. In the various forms of insurance, such as fire insurance, marine insurance, accident insurance or burglary insurance, the policyholder pays a premium in order to be insured against a contingency which, if he is an honest man, he hopes will never occur. ”

“ Let it be assumed, as this court has said, that the insurance business, generically considered, is not commerce; that the contract of insurance is a personal contract,-an indemnity against the happening of a contingent event. ”

“ The contention of the plaintiff is that the words 'the assured' in the policy apply to the person for whose benefit the policy was effected, that is, Luchs, and not to the party whose life was insured. There are undoubtedly instances where this distinction between the terms 'assured' and 'insured' is observed, though we do not find any judicial consideration of it. The application of either term to the party for whose benefit the insurance is effected, or to the party whose life is insured, has generally depended upon its collocation and context in the policy. ”

“ In these circumstances you will no doubt be persuaded of the desirability of sending me the premium forthwith, in order to effect an insurance which has your Lessors' approval. It possible that the office you name would give you credit for so much of is the premium as is proportionate to the risk unexpired. ”

“ When goods insured are totally lost, actually or constructively, by perils insured against, the insurer, upon payment of the loss, doubtless becomes subrogated to all the assured's rights of action against third person who have caused or are responsible for the loss. No express stipulation in the policy of insurance, or abandonment by the assured, is necessary to perfect the title of the insurer. ”

“ It is the ratable proportion for which the other reinsurers are liable, that provision is made for deducting, and the liability of the insurer means such liability after that deduction, and does not mean there must be an actual payment of such liability by the insurer before it can have any benefit of the contract of reinsurance which is made with defendant. ”

“ The insurer of a contract of personal insurance shall be liable for the payment of the insured amount and other benefits according as the contract of insurance provides, in case the insured events may arise in respect to life or body. ”

“ In a suit upon a policy of accident insurance, the respondent recovered a judgment in accordance with a stipulation declaring the extent of the liability if the insurer was liable at all.
Attorney's fees and 12 per cent. damages were added to the recovery in accordance with the statute. Section 6155, Arkansas Digest, Crawford & Moses, 1921. ”

“ Many policies also specify a sum to be paid for the loss or permanent damage of a member, as an eye, a hand or foot. Another extension of the personal accident policy is the addition of some form of health insurance, especially the grant of a weekly sum to the insured during incapacity for work caused by certain named diseases. Besides the ordinary joint stock companies which carry on this class of business with fixed premiums, many associations organize for insurance against personal injury by accident, relying upon the assessment of members to pay claims as they mature. ”

“ The preliminary arrangements for the amount and conditions of insurance are in a great majority of instances made by agents. It is always so where the insurance is effected out of the State where the company is incorporated and has its principal place of business. ”

“ In each case the risk assumed by the insurer is the loss of the insured's life, and the payment of the insurance money is contingent upon the loss of life.' This view of the Board of Tax Appeals is wholly consistent with the language of the statute itself which makes no distinction between 'policies on the life of the decedent' which are payable in all events and those payable only if death comes in a certain way or within a certain time. ”

“ When the insured effects insurance with an underwriter through a broker, then, unless otherwise agreed, the broker is liable for the premium to the underwriter, who is, however, directly responsible to the assured for losses or liabilities falling on the policy and for returnable premium. ”

“ INSURANCE AGENT: But if your house burns without insurance it will be a total loss. HOUSE OWNER: Beg your pardon -- by your own actuary's tables I shall probably have saved, when it burns, all the premiums I would otherwise have paid to you -- amounting to more than the face of the policy they would have bought. But suppose it to burn, uninsured, before the time upon which your figures are based. If I could not afford that, how could you if it were insured? INSURANCE AGENT: O, we should make ourselves whole from our luckier ventures with other clients. Virtually, they pay your loss. ”

“ In determining the liabilities upon its contracts of insurance of any insurance company other than life insurance, and the amount such company should hold as a reserve for reinsurance, he shall, for casualty insurance companies, charge one half of the premium on all annual policies written within one year, and on policies written for more than one year he shall charge one half of the current year's premiums, plus the whole of the premiums for subsequent years. ”

“ But the stipulation upon the subject of insurance, in the bills of lading before us, is governed by other considerations. It does not compel the owner of the goods to stand his own insurer, or to obtain insurance on the goods; nor does it exempt the carrier, in case of loss by negligence of himself or his servants, from liability to the owner, to the same extent as if the goods were uninsured. It simply provides that the carrier, when liable for the loss, shall have the benefit of any insurance effected upon the goods. ”