Bostwick v. the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York

Summary

The Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed a judgment for the plaintiff, holding that applicants for life insurance policies who received policies differing from what they claimed to have ordered were bound to examine the policies upon receipt. Because a casual examination of the policies and accompanying letters would have revealed the discrepancies, the applicants' failure to inspect for several months constituted acceptance and waiver of any fraud in the applications. On rehearing, the court reaffirmed that a person signing a written instrument is conclusively presumed to know its contents absent fraud inducing non-reading, and that retention of delivered goods without timely objection waives obvious departures from the bargain. Cassoday, C.J., concurred in the result except as to the Bostwick policy, which he would have affirmed on the ground that the representations concerned facts peculiarly within the insurer's knowledge.