Crown Life Ins. Co. v. Smith

657 So. 2d 821, 1994 WL 407247
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedJanuary 13, 1995
Docket1930120, 1930162
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 657 So. 2d 821 (Crown Life Ins. Co. v. Smith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Crown Life Ins. Co. v. Smith, 657 So. 2d 821, 1994 WL 407247 (Ala. 1995).

Opinion

657 So.2d 821 (1994)

CROWN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY
v.
Jack C. SMITH and Jean B. Smith.
Jack C. SMITH and Jean B. Smith
v.
CROWN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY.

1930120, 1930162.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

August 5, 1994.
On Application for Rehearing January 13, 1995.

*822 Davis Carr and James W. Lampkin II of Pierce, Carr & Alford, P.C., David C. Hannan, Celia J. Collins and Tracy P. Turner of Johnstone, Adams, Bailey, Gordon & Harris, Mobile, for appellant/cross appellee Crown Life Ins. Co.

William M. Lyon, Jr. of McFadden, Lyon, Willoughby & Rouse, Joseph M. Brown, Jr. and Andrew T. Citrin of Cunningham, Bounds, Yance, Crowder and Brown, Mobile, for appellees/cross-appellants Smith.

INGRAM, Justice.

Jack C. Smith and his wife Jean B. Smith alleged that an agent of Crown Life Insurance Company ("Crown"), Edward C. Land, converted funds from the Smiths' whole life policies issued by Crown and that Crown wantonly ratified Land's conversions after it learned of them. The Smiths sued Land; Land's corporation, Land and Associates, Inc.; and Crown, alleging conversion, wantonness, bad faith, and the tort of outrage. The trial court dismissed the action as to Land and Associates and entered a default judgment against Land. The Smiths' claims against Crown went to trial before a jury. At the Smiths' request, the trial court submitted to the jury only the Smiths' claims of conversion and wantonness. The jury returned a verdict against Crown for $2,000,000 in compensatory damages and $2,000,000 in punitive damages.

The trial court upheld the Smiths' punitive damages award after conducting a review pursuant to Hammond v. City of Gadsden, 493 So.2d 1374 (Ala.1986), and Green Oil Co. v. Hornsby, 539 So.2d 218 (Ala.1989). However, the trial court conditioned its denial of Crown's motion for a new trial upon the Smiths' accepting a $1,750,000 remittitur of the compensatory damages award, reducing that award to $250,000. The Smiths accepted the remittitur on the condition that Crown not appeal; however, Crown did appeal. The Smiths then cross-appealed from the trial court's order requiring a remittitur.

A jury's verdict is presumed correct and will not be disturbed unless it is plainly erroneous or manifestly unjust. Alpine Bay Resorts, Inc. v. Wyatt, 539 So.2d 160, 162 (Ala.1988). In addition, a judgment based upon a jury verdict and sustained by the denial of a postjudgment motion for a new trial will not be reversed unless it is plainly and palpably wrong. Ashbee v. Brock, 510 So.2d 214 (Ala.1987). Because the jury returned a verdict for the Smiths, any disputed questions of fact must be resolved in their favor, and we must presume that the jury drew from the facts any reasonable inferences necessary to support its verdict. State Farm Auto. Ins. Co. v. Morris, 612 So.2d 440, 443 (Ala.1993). In short, in reviewing a judgment based upon a jury verdict, this Court must review the record in a light most favorable to the appellee. Continental Cas. Ins. Co. v. McDonald, 567 So.2d 1208, 1211 (Ala.1990).

Land, a general insurance agent, had sold the Smiths several life insurance policies issued by General American Life Insurance Company ("General American"). In December 1990, the Smiths learned that Land had taken approximately $13,500 from their insurance policies with General American, while taking over $800,000 from policies held by General American's other insureds. The *823 Alabama Department of Insurance later revoked Land's insurance license; Land subsequently pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges of mail and wire fraud relating to insurance and was sent to prison. General American informed the Smiths of Land's activities and, after an investigation, fully refunded the Smiths' money.

Land had also sold the Smiths several whole life insurance policies issued by Crown. Soon after learning in December 1990 that Land had taken the General American funds, the Smiths requested information from Crown about their Crown insurance policies. They learned that Land, between 1984 and 1988, had obtained over $47,000 from two of their Crown policies. Land had taken the funds from several premium refund checks that had been issued to the Smiths. Further, Land had taken unauthorized loans on the cash values of two of the Smiths' Crown whole life insurance policies. Land received the funds from the refund checks and the unauthorized loans by forging the Smiths' names on the documents, which he then deposited into accounts belonging to Land and Associates, Inc.

Crown, although it was aware that the FBI was investigating Land's illegal activity, did not commence its own investigation of Land's activities until soon after the Smiths sued in June 1991. Crown continued to bill the Smiths for interest charges of several thousands of dollars on the loans that Land had taken against their policies; Crown's mailed billings warned the Smiths that the policies would lapse if the charges were not paid. The Smiths paid the interest charges, which were continuously billed until 1993. Crown did not refund the money taken from the Smiths, including the Smiths' interest payments, until April 1993, approximately one month before trial. The Smiths asserted at trial that Crown's delayed investigation into Land's activities, and its lack of cooperation, demonstrated by its continuing to charge interest after learning of Land's conversions, indicated that Crown had acted wantonly and had ratified Land's conversions.

Crown first contends that the trial court erred in submitting the Smiths' conversion claim to the jury, because, it argues, the funds Land took were not sufficiently identifiable to support a conversion claim.

To establish conversion, one must present proof of a wrongful taking, an illegal assumption of ownership, an illegal use or misuse of another's property, or a wrongful detention or interference with another's property. Covington v. Exxon Co., U.S.A., 551 So.2d 935 (Ala.1989); Gillis v. Benefit Trust Life Ins. Co., 601 So.2d 951 (Ala.1992); Gray v. Liberty National Life Ins. Co., 623 So.2d 1156 (Ala.1993). It is well settled that money may be subject to a conversion claim, where there is an obligation to keep that money intact or to deliver it. 54 Am.Jur.2d Money § 5 (1971); 89 C.J.S. Trover and Conversion § 23 (1955). Generally, an action for conversion of money will not lie unless the money is specific and capable of identification. Greene County Bd. of Education v. Bailey, 586 So.2d 893 (Ala.1991). This Court has stated:

"An action alleging conversion of cash lies only where the money involved is `earmarked' or is specific money capable of identification, e.g., money in a bag, coins or notes that have been entrusted to the defendant's care, or funds that have otherwise been sequestered, and where there is an obligation to keep intact and deliver this specific money rather than to merely deliver a certain sum."

Gray, 623 So.2d at 1160.

Checks, and the property rights represented thereby, may be the subject of a conversion action. Alfa Mut. Ins. Co. v. Veal, 622 So.2d 1292 (Ala.1993). A conversion action may also lie in regard to the cash surrender value of an insurance policy. Hamilton v. Hamilton, 255 Ala. 284, 51 So.2d 13 (1950).

We conclude that the trial court properly submitted the Smiths' conversion claim to the jury. Land forged the Smiths' signatures onto the Smiths' Crown premium refund checks, received the funds represented by those checks, and deposited those funds into his own corporation's accounts.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
657 So. 2d 821, 1994 WL 407247, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crown-life-ins-co-v-smith-ala-1995.