INSURANCE-MISREPRESENTATIONS-INSERTION OF FALSE ANSWERS BY MEDICAL EXAMINER

Authors

Abstract

If an applicant for life insurance, in answering the many questions put to him by the company's medical representative, tells the truth, but the examiner, in recording the answers, distorts them without the knowledge of the insured, may the beneficiary or the personal representative of the insured show this distortion by parol, and collect on the policy in spite of the presence of false written answers in the application? The New York court of appeals, in the very recent case, Minsker v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co., 254 N. Y. 333, 173 N.E. 4, answers this question in the negative. The court argues that, since 1907, such evidence is inadmissible because of a section of the New York insurance law which contains a provision that "Every policy of insurance * * * shall contain the entire contract between the parties."

Recommended Citation

INSURANCE-MISREPRESENTATIONS-INSERTION OF FALSE ANSWERS BY MEDICAL EXAMINER, 29 Mich. L. Rev. 344 (1931).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol29/iss3/6