New York Life Insurance Company, a Corporation v. Laveda Noonan

This is a suit on a policy of life insurance. The contract contained a clause barring recovery of the principal sum if death by suicide should occur within a year of the issuance of the policy. The insured became a suicide. The trial court, deeming the contract to be ambiguous as regards the date on which the year began to run, resolved the ambiguity in favor of the beneficiary (appellee here) and accordingly gave judgment for the latter. The sole question on the Company’s appeal is whether an ambiguity exists in the respect mentioned.

The application for the insurance was executed by the insured on June 15,1951. For the obvious purpose of giving the insured the benefit of a lower premium rate based on his insurance age, the application asked in item 18 thereof that the policy be written to take effect March 14, 1951. A further provision of the application reads: “It is mutually agreed that: If the Applicant shall have paid the soliciting agent in cash, * * *, an amount which equals the full first premium * * *, and if the Company shall receive evidence satisfactory to it that at the time of completion of this application the proposed Insured * * * was an acceptable risk for said…