Hanna v. Commercial Travelers’ Mutual Accident Association
Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division
142 N.E. 288 (1922)
Commercial Travelers' Mutual Accident Association (defendant) issued an accident insurance policy to Lyman, who disappeared in 1913 and was not found dead in his car at the bottom of a river until 1917. The policy required notice of an accident within specified timeframes as a condition of coverage, and no such notice was given because no one knew of Lyman's death until his body was discovered. Hanna (plaintiff), suing on the insured's behalf, argued that the impossibility of complying with the notice requirement before discovering the death should excuse noncompliance. The trial court awarded Hanna a judgment.
Whether the nonperformance of a condition precedent is waived or excused by the occurrence of an unforeseen contingency that made compliance impossible.