Neill v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Company
Court of Appeals of Arkansas
81 Ark. App. 67 (Ark. Ct. App. 2003)
Neill (plaintiff) told a Nationwide (defendant) agent his answers when applying for mobile-home insurance; the agent allegedly never asked about prior fire losses and recorded "None" under past losses. Neill signed the completed application without reading it. After a later fire, Nationwide discovered Neill had suffered three prior fire losses and denied his claim, arguing the omission was a material misrepresentation voiding the policy. The trial court granted Nationwide summary judgment, and Neill appealed.
Whether an insurer can avoid liability where an applicant truthfully answered a soliciting agent's questions but the agent misstated those facts on the application by fraud, negligence, or mistake, even though the applicant signed without reading it.