Insular Life Assurance Co., Ltd. vs Serafin Feliciano (1943)

G.R. No. L-47593 – 74 Phil. 468 – Mercantile Law – Insurance Law – Representation – Insurance Agent’s Fraud

From the court’s decision rendered in the case of Insular Life Assurance vs Feliciano (1941), Insular Life filed a motion for reconsideration. Insular avers that Feliciano is not entitled to the claim because the insurance policy is void ab initio; that he connived with the insurance agent and the medical examiner; and that at best, Feliciano is only entitled to refund or the reimbursement of what he has paid in premium.

ISSUE: Whether or not Insular Life is correct.

HELD: Yes. This time, the Supreme Court held that Insular Life’s contention is correct. When Evaristo Feliciano, the applicant for insurance, signed the application in blank and authorized the soliciting agent and/or medical examiner of Insular to write the answers for him, he made them his own agents for that purpose, and he was responsible for their acts in that connection. If they falsified the answers for him, he could not evade the responsibility for the falsification. He was not supposed to sign the application in blank. He knew that the answers to the questions therein contained would be “the basis of the policy,” and for that very reason he was required with his signature to vouch for truth thereof.

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Read the 1941 case here (case appealed from).