Carol Ruth Heer v. Reserve Life Insurance Co., a Corporation

Reserve Life Insurance Company (“Reserve”) appeals from a judgment awarding appellee Heer recovery upon a conditional insurance contract.

Heer applied for a $20,000 insurance policy upon the life of her 49-day-old child. She paid Reserve’s soliciting agent the initial premium of $19.58, and he gave her a conditional receipt. The receipt recited, among other things, that “if the Company at its Home Office after investigation shall be satisfied that * * * on the date of the medical examination * * * each person proposed for insurance was insurable and entitled under the Company’s rules and standards to insurance on the plan and for the amount applied for at the Company’s published rates corresponding to the age of each person proposed for insurance, the insurance protection applied for shall by reason of such payment * * * take effect * * * from the date of such medical examination * * Another clause rendered ineffective the insurance contract if the specified conditions were not met.

Two days after Heer applied for the policy, the baby received and passed its medical examination. Five days later the infant died, the victim of “crib death.” There is no suggestion whatever that…