Vaughn

This appeal is from a judgment of the district court, awarding insurance benefits to the named beneficiary of a life insurance policy.

On the 17th day of September, 1945, James Arthur Vaughn, a resident of the State of Washington, made application to The California Western States Life Insurance Company, a California corporation, for insurance upon his life.

On the day following, the applicant was given a physical examination by Dr. Cedric Tuohy, who was authorized by the company to perform such service. In the course of the examination, the doctor read certain printed questions aloud to Vaughn from a form furnished by the insurance company, and wrote Vaughn’s answers in the blank spaces left in the form opposite the questions. Upon concluding the questions and the writing of the answers, Vaughn was handed the form, which he looked over and signed as correct. Whether Vaughn read it all, the doctor testified at the trial that he did not know.

Dr. Tuohy also examined Vaughn’s abdomen by hand, examined the chest, heart, •blood pressure, nervous system, urine, pulse and temperature, finding all normal. He endorsed the form to the effect that he found the applicant to be in good…