J. Ynares-Santiago
Facts:
Primitivo B. Perez had been insured with the BF Lifeman Insurance Corporation for P20,000.00. Sometime in October 1987, an agent of the insurance corporation, visited Perez in Quezon and convinced him to apply for additional insurance coverage of P50,000.00. Virginia A. Perez, Primitivo’s wife, paid P2,075.00 to the agent. The receipt issued indicated the amount received was a "deposit." Unfortunately, the agent lost the application form accomplished by Perez and he asked the latter to fill up another application form. The agent sent the application for additional insurance of Perez to the Quezon office. Such was supposed to forwarded to the Manila office.
Perez drowned. His application papers for the additional insurance of P50,000.00 were still with the Quezon. It was only after some time that the papers were brought to Manila. Without knowing that Perez died, BF Lifeman Insurance Corporation approved the application and issued the corresponding policy for the P50,000.00.
Petitioner Virginia Perez went to Manila to claim the benefits under the insurance policies of the deceased. She was paid P40,000.00 under the first insurance policy for P20,000.00 but the insurance company refused to pay the claim under the additional policy coverage of P50,000.00, the proceeds of which amount to P150,000.00.
The insurance company maintained that the insurance for P50,000.00 had not been perfected at the time of the death of Primitivo Perez. Consequently, the insurance company refunded the amount paid.
BF Lifeman Insurance Corporation filed a complaint against Virginia Perez seeking the rescission and declaration of nullity of the insurance contract in question.
Petitioner Virginia A. Perez, on the other hand, averred that the deceased had fulfilled all his prestations under the contract and all the elements of a valid contract are present.
On October 25, 1991, the trial court rendered a decision in favor of petitioner ordering respondent to pay 150,000 pesos. The Court of Appeals, however, reversed the decision of the trial court saying that the insurance contract for P50,000.00 could not have been perfected since at the time that the policy was issued, Primitivo was already dead.
Petitioner’s motion for reconsideration having been denied by respondent court, the instant petition for certiorari was filed on the ground that there was a consummated contract of insurance between the deceased and BF Lifeman Insurance Corporation.
Issue: WON the widow can receive the proceeds of the 2nd insurance policy
Held: No. Petition dismissed.
Ratio:
Perez’s application was subject to the acceptance of private respondent BF Lifeman Insurance Corporation. The perfection of the contract of insurance between the deceased and respondent corporation was further conditioned with the following requisites stated in the application form:
"there shall be no contract of insurance unless and until a policy is issued on this application and that the said policy shall not take effect until the premium has been paid and the policy delivered to and accepted by me/us in person while I/We, am/are in good health."
BF Lifeman didn’t give its assent when it merely received the application form and all the requisite supporting papers of the applicant. This happens only when it gives a policy.
It is not disputed, however, that when Primitivo died on November 25, 1987, his application papers for additional insurance coverage were still with the branch office of respondent corporation in Quezon. Consequently, there was absolutely no way the acceptance of the application could have been communicated to the applicant for the latter to accept inasmuch as the applicant at the time was already dead.
Petitioner insists that the condition imposed by BF that a policy must have been delivered to and accepted by the proposed insured in good health is potestative, being dependent upon the will of the corporation and is therefore void. The court didn’t agree. A potestative condition depends upon the exclusive will of one of the parties and is considered void. The Civil Code states: When the fulfillment of the condition depends upon the sole will of the debtor, the conditional obligation shall be void.
The following conditions were imposed by the respondent company for the perfection of the contract of insurance: a policy must have been issued, the premiums paid, and the policy must have been delivered to and accepted by the applicant while he is in good health.
The third condition isn’t potestative, because the health of the applicant at the time of the delivery of the policy is beyond the control or will of the insurance company. Rather, the condition is a suspensive one whereby the acquisition of rights depends upon the happening of an event which constitutes the condition. In this case, the suspensive condition was the policy must have been delivered and accepted by the applicant while he is in good health. There was non-fulfillment of the condition, because the applicant was already dead at the time the policy was issued.
As stated above, a contract of insurance, like other contracts, must be assented to by both parties either in person or by their agents. So long as an application for insurance has not been either accepted or rejected, it is merely an offer or proposal to make a contract. The contract, to be binding from the date of application, must have been a completed contract.
The insurance company wasn’t negligent because delay in acting on the application does not constitute acceptance even after payment. The corporation may not be penalized for the delay in the processing of the application papers due to the fact that process in a week wasn’t the usual timeframe in fixing the application. Delay could not be deemed unreasonable so as to constitute gross negligence.
No comments:
Post a Comment