O'RIORDAN

After his wife’s death from breast cancer, plaintiff, as beneficiary of his wife’s life insurance policy, sought to collect the policy proceeds. Defendant insurance company, however, rescinded the policy and denied plaintiff’s claim. It asserted that the wife had concealed from the insurer her smoking of cigarettes in the 36-month period preceding her application, and that had she been truthful it would not have issued a policy at the “preferred nonsmoker rate.” Plaintiff sued. The trial court granted the insurer’s motion for summary judgment. We conclude that whether there was concealment is a disputed material fact, and therefore summary judgment was improper.

I

Because plaintiff has appealed from the trial court’s grant of summary judgment against him, we must “independently examine the record in order to determine whether triable issues of fact exist to reinstate the action.” (Wiener v. Southcoast Childcare Centers, Inc. (2004) 32 Cal.4th 1138, 1142 [ 12 Cal.Rptr.3d 615 , 88 P.3d 517 ]; see also Saelzler v. Advanced Group 400 (2001) 25 Cal.4th 763, 767 [ 107 Cal.Rptr.2d 617 , 23 P.3d 1143 ].) “In performing our de novo review, we view the evidence in the light most…