First National Savings Foundation, Inc. v. Samp

80 N.W.2d 249, 274 Wis. 118, 1956 Wisc. LEXIS 412
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 4, 1956
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 80 N.W.2d 249 (First National Savings Foundation, Inc. v. Samp) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
First National Savings Foundation, Inc. v. Samp, 80 N.W.2d 249, 274 Wis. 118, 1956 Wisc. LEXIS 412 (Wis. 1956).

Opinion

Wingert, J.

1. The first question presented by the appeal is whether the “Guaranty Estate Plan” issued by the plaintiff Foundation and sold to the public is a “security,” as defined by sec. 189.02 (1), Wis. Stats., which must be registered pursuant to sec. 189.13. We answer this question in the affirmative, and hold that the circuit court was correct in so declaring.

The Guaranty Estate Plan comprises three principal elements, namely, a contract between. the investor and the Foundation, a life insurance policy issued by a life insurance company, and a savings account in a federal savings and loan association.

The plan calls for the making of monthly payments by the investor to the Foundation for about fourteen years, the exact period depending upon the rapidity with which the deposits in the savings account plus the distributions of earnings credited to the account by the savings and loan association reach a specified amount. Out of the first ten payments thus made the Foundation retains a part as its compensation, and the balance of the first ten payments, and nearly all of the later payments, are disbursed by the Foundation in payment of premiums on a life insurance policy on the life of the investor and in payments to the federal savings and loan association for credit to the investor’s savings account. The life insurance policy and the savings and loan account are the property of the investor, but the policy and the savings-account passbook are held in escrow by the Foundation. When all payments required to keep up the life insurance premiums and bring the withdrawal value of the savings account to the figure described as the “savings objective” have been completed, the plan matures, the contract between the investor and the Foundation terminates, the investor may cash or continue in force the life insurance and the savings account, and the escrow of the insurance policy and the passbook ceases, If the investor dies prior to the maturity of the plan, [122]*122the life insurance company will pay his beneficiary a sum of cash and a monthly income, and will pay to the Foundation the amounts required to be transmitted by it to the savings and loan association for the balance of the fourteen-year period or until the account reaches the specified withdrawal value.

Giving an idea of the relative payments and benefits involved, an exhibit in the record indicates that a $2,000 unit of the plan involves payment of $15.78 per month for the first eleven years and $14.42 per month for the next three years and $10 per month thereafter, the payments to cease, however, as soon as the savings account in the savings and loan association reaches a withdrawal value of $2,000 exclusive of a one per cent bonus for regular payment. The life insurance policy obtainable under the plan for a male investor age thirty-five will have a cash surrender value of $446 or a paid-up value of $754 at the maturity of the plan or will be carried as extended term insurance for $2,000 for approximately nineteen additional years, and will pay upwards of $2,500 in case of the investor’s death before maturity. The Foundation’s compensation taken out of the first ten payments will be $100.

When a prospect has been persuaded to invest in the “plan” he signs six documents, to wit: (1) A “Savings-Service Agreement” of about 800 words in which he agrees to make specified monthly payments and which sets forth some of the features of the plan, (2) an application to a federal savings and loan association for membership and a savings account, (3) a “Member’s Bonus Agreement” with the savings and loan association in which he agrees to make regular monthly payments until the participation value of his savings account reaches a specified sum, (4) an application for life insurance addressed to a life insurance company, (5) an amendment to such application providing that in the event of his death within fourteen years, a portion of the policy proceeds shall [123]*123be paid to the savings and loan association, and authorizing delivery of the policy to the Foundation, and (6) an “Escrow and Transfer Agreement” of 600 words addressed to the Foundation, authorizing it to hold his savings-account passbook in escrow, designating beneficiaries to receive the savings account in the event of his death within fourteen years, and containing other provisions and authorizations.

The Foundation then delivers the application for life insurance to the life insurance company, which issues a life insurance policy in the name of the investor and delivers it to the Foundation, also delivering to the investor a certificate that it has so issued and delivered the policy. On receipt of the eleventh monthly payment the Foundation delivers the application for a savings account and bonus agreement to the savings and loan association which in turn issues the usual savings-account passbook in the name of the investor and delivers it to the Foundation, and writes a letter to the investor advising him that the Foundation has opened a savings account in his behalf, which will have a stated cash value on maturity, that he will be entitled to a one per cent bonus at maturity on certain conditions, and that the passbook which controls his account has been delivered to the Foundation.

When the preliminaries have been completed, the Foundation issues to the investor an “Escrow Service Contract,” a document of four pages and over 3,000 words, which has elaborately engraved back and margins causing it to resemble in physical appearance a common form of corporate bond. It is therein provided that the Escrow Service Contract, together with the application for it, and the Escrow and Transfer Agreement previously executed, shall constitute one and the entire agreement between the Foundation and the investor. Thus the contract between the parties is to be found in three separate documents containing about 4,500 words. This contract is hereinafter referred to as the “Plan.”

[124]*124The appellants place great emphasis on the argument that the contract is merely a service agreement in which the Foundation agrees to perform services for the investor such as forwarding his payments, and hence is not a security. It is therefore pertinent to look at the contract more closely. Some idea of its contents and phraseology may be had from the following provisions immediately following the caption on page 1 of the Escrow Service Contract:

“RICPIARD ROE (as principal) the holder of record, of this Escrow Service Contract, upon payment to the: FIRST NATIONAL SAVINGS FOUNDATION, INC. (as Escrow and Transfer Agent), of the monthly payments as specified in the schedule of payments in part one (1) page two (2) hereof, which payments shall be payable monthly in advance on the 1st day of each month, and upon maturity of the savings share account, and subject to the terms and provisions of said account and life insurance policy of the holder hereof, both of which are held in escrow hereunder, said holder may exercise one of the settlement options as specified in part four (4) page three (3) hereof, and receive such sums or settlements directly from the savings and loan association and life insurance company respectively.” (Sic.)

After a minor provision, the contract then proceeds as follows, under the heading, “Savings Objective:”

“A CASH VALUE of Two Thousand Four Hundred Forty-Six and No/100 Dollars ($2,446). Consisting entirely of the Matured Cash Value of the Savings Share Account, (PLUS AN EXTRA 1%

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Bluebook (online)
80 N.W.2d 249, 274 Wis. 118, 1956 Wisc. LEXIS 412, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-national-savings-foundation-inc-v-samp-wis-1956.