United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Bergholm v. Peoria Life Ins. Co., 284 U.S. 489 (1932)

Bergholm v. Peoria Life Ins. Co.

No. 297

Argued January 18, 1932

Decided February 15, 1932

284 U.S. 489

Syllabus

1. Contracts of life insurance, like other contracts, must be construed according to the terms that the parties have used, to be taken and understood, in the absence of ambiguity, in their plain, ordinary and popular sense. P. 284 U. S. 492.

2. A condition in a policy of life insurance that the policy hall cease if the stipulated premium shall not be paid on or before the day fixed is of the very essence and substance of the contract. Id.

3. Clauses in a policy by which the company undertook to pay the premiums if the insured were totally and permanently disabled, but only upon receipt by it of proof of such disability and only the premiums becoming due after such receipt, held unambiguous and not to be construed, to save the policy from a lapse, as an agreement to pay premiums accruing after the disability occurred but before the company received proof of it. P. 284 U. S. 491.

50 F.2d 67 affirmed.

Certiorari to review a judgment reversing a recovery in an action upon a life insurance policy.