KESAVE SEETHAMMA Vs. BOMBAY LIFE ASSURANCE COLTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiff is the widow of one K. Srinivasaiya who died on 8-9-1945 at Koppa. He had insured his life with the defendant company for Rs. 3000/- and the plaintiff sued to recover that sum after the death of the insured. The defendant company denied their liability to pay any sum under the policies on three grounds: first that the insured had suppressed certain material facts and had made some false and fraudulent statements in his proposal and personal declaration forms, which circumstance vitiated the policy; secondly, that the insured had committed suicide and as the same was within 13 months of the date of insurance the contract under the insurance policy had become void and could not be enforced: and thirdly, that the insured had speculated on his life by insuring for much larger sums than he could afford and his taking up the insurance policies of the company in those circumstances was not a 'bona fide' act on his part. The Additional Subordinate Judge, Chickmagalur, who tried the plaintiff's suit decreed it. On appeal, the District Judge of Shimoga reversed that decision and dismissed her claim. The plaintiff has now come up in second appeal.

(2.) The two latter pleas, viz. that the deceased had committed suicide and that he had speculated on his life have been found against the defendant company by both the Courts below, and the same cannot and are not pressed before me. It has not been explained what exactly the company meant by the third plea and it does not seem to be by itself any proper defence to a claim on an insurance policy though it might be a piece of evidence and might probabilize other pleas such as suicide or misrepresentation.

(3.) The first plea of fraudulent misrepresentation or suppression of material facts by the insured is with regard to statements recorded in columns 8 and 9 of the proposal form Ex. I. Under column 8, the insured was asked to state whether his life had ever been insured in any other company and to give particulars. He has answered that query by stating that he had done so in the Empire of India Life Insurance Co. Ltd., under four endowment policies aggregating Rs. 6000/- and that they were accepted as proposed at ordinary rates without any extra premium being charged or lien or condition imposed. The insured has made a formal declaration at the end of the proposal form that the particulars given by him in the proposal forms were true and that he agreed that the said proposal and any declaration to be made before the Medical Examiner should be the basis of the contract between him and the defendant company. These statements are 'prima facie' false. (After discussion of the evidence His Lordship proceeded :) It must therefore be held that the deceased made a false declaration in his proposal form Ex. I knowing it to be false and the point that falls for consideration is whether the-same vitiates his contract of insurance with the defendant company.