RESTITUTION-RECOVERY OF INSURANCE PAYMENTS MADE UNDER A MISTAKE OF FACT AS TO THE DEATH OF THE INSURED

Authors

Edwin F. Uhl, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

Respondent insurance company, upon receipt of claims filed by the appellant beneficiary and a copy of the original Certificate of Presumptive Death issued by the Maritime War Emergency Board, certifying that the insured was presumed to have died on or about November 28, 1942, paid to the beneficiary the face amount of a life insurance policy plus a refund of a premium payment received after the date of presumptive death. Subsequently it was discovered that the insured was a prisoner of war in Japan and, having received from the Maritime War Emergency Board a correction of the original certificate, the insurer requested the beneficiary to refund the money and reinstate the policy. Upon beneficiary's refusal to do so, the insurer brought an equity action to recover the funds. Held, that the payments, having been made under a mutual mistake of fact, may be recovered. Pilot Life Insurance Co. v. Cudd, (S.C. 1945) 36 S.E. (2d) 860.

Recommended Citation

Edwin F. Uhl, RESTITUTION-RECOVERY OF INSURANCE PAYMENTS MADE UNDER A MISTAKE OF FACT AS TO THE DEATH OF THE INSURED, 44 Mich. L. Rev. 1154 (1946).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol44/iss6/20