Head v. New York Life Insurance

147 S.W. 827, 241 Mo. 403, 1912 Mo. LEXIS 293
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMarch 28, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 147 S.W. 827 (Head v. New York Life Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Head v. New York Life Insurance, 147 S.W. 827, 241 Mo. 403, 1912 Mo. LEXIS 293 (Mo. 1912).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

— The following opinion by Bond, C., delivered in Division No. 1, is adopted as the opinion of the Court in Banc.

All concur except' Graves and Férriss, JJ., who dissent.

BOND, C.

— Defendant is an insurance company incorporated in New York and duly licensed to do business in the State of Missouri, and for that purpose has established á branch office in Kansas City, Missouri.

Richard G. Head made an application at the Kansas City office of the defendant for two policies of ten thousand dollars each upon his life, payable to his infant son, Richard G. Head, Jr. At the time he made this application, the assured, though born in Missouri, lived on his ranch in Watrous, New Mexico, and was a citizen of that territory. He maintained business interests in Kansas City, Missouri, and was often there attending to the same. He gave the soliciting agent of the defendant a thirty day note, payable to him personally, for an amount equal to the premiums of the two policies. Thereafter the defendant transmitted from, its home office to its branch office in Kansas City a policy made out in accordance with this application, dated April 3, 1894, for a twenty year accumulation period and containing the usual stipulations, which, as far as necessary, will be specially adverted to in the opinion.

After these policies had been received at its Kansas City office, they were handed over to the soliciting agent of defendant, who delivered them to Mr. Deatherage, the attorney of the assured, who placed them in his safe, where they remained until the assured returned at the date of the maturity of the note, and took up the note by drawing a draft upon the commission company in which he was a stockholder, in Kansas City, Missouri, which draft he gave to the soliciting agent in exchange for his note, and the soliciting agent turned [409]*409it over to the cashier of the defendant in charge of its branch office at Kansas City. At this time the assured received his. policies from Mr. Deatherage, who subsequently arranged with the company that the future premiums payable thereon might be sent by the assured from his place of residence in New Mexico. This was done in most instances, though some of the subsequent premiums were paid at Kansas City.

A few years thereafter the assured was appointed guardian of his infant son, and as such guardian and under proper authority from the court he assigned one of these policies, No. 599590, to his daughter, Mary E. Head. Thereafter, to-wit, April 3, 1904, upon application of Mary E. Head, in which the assured joined, the defendant made a loan of '$2270', on said policy under the terms of a loan agreement, which, as far as .material, will be adverted to in the opinion. The assured defaulted in the payment of premiums on said policies due April 3, 1905, whereupon certain correspondence between himself and the beneficiary, Mary E. Head, and the defendant took place with reference to the issuance of a paid up policy computed as provided by the statutes of New York. This as far as essential will be referred to in the opinion. Thereupon, the policy in suit was returned to Mary E. Head in the summer of 1905, with an endorsement thereon, that it stood as a paid up policy for eighty-nine dollars. Her father, the assured, died April 8, 1906, and she brought this present action the 20th of September, 1906, in two counts. In the first count she prayed judgment for the face value of the policy less the loan indebtedness of $2270 and five per cent interest thereon, claiming that she was entitled to that sum under the laws of Missouri. In the second count she” prayed judgment on the same policy for the sum of $1430, which she alleged was its paid up value computed according to the statutes of Missouri after deducting the amount of the aforesaid note and interest.

[410]*410The defendant answered, denying the payment of any premiums on the policies after April 3, 1905; admitting- its incorporation and its license to do business under the laws of Missouri, and its establishment of an office in Kansas City, Missouri, for that purpose, and that it issued the two policies on the life of the assured ; but averring that at the time he applied for the same, he was and up until his death continued to be a citizen of 'Watrous, New Mexico; that his application was accepted in consideration of the agreement, statement and warranties therein contained, which became a part of the contract embodied in the policies issued to him and which provided that the contract made by said policies and said application should be construed according to the laws of the State of New York. The answer set out the provisions of the policies as to the payment of premiums, as to the making of loans, and quoted sections of the New York statutes providing the' rule and method for computing the paid up value of policies which had lapsed after being in full force three full years, and it then set out the making of a loan to the beneficiary in the policy in suit, on the 3d of April, 1904, and the deposit of the policy in suit as collateral security for that loan, and the making' of a written loan agreement by the beneficiary, and its provisions, that upon default of payment of the interest on said loan or a premium on the policy, the defendant should have the right to continue the said policy without further notice as paid up insurance in accordance with the section quoted from the statutes of the State of New York; and averring that said policy did lapse for the non-payment of a premium, and that defendant exercised its option and continued it as paid up- insurance for the sum of eighty-nine dollars, and endorsed it to that effect, and returned it to the plaintiff, and tendered that amount before the institution of this suit, and continued a tender therefor in its answer. The defendant made a similar defense to the second .count.

[411]*411Plaintiff adduced evidence tending to show, that when Mary E. Head, the beneficiary of this policy, received it with the endorsement placed thereon by defendant, she had no knowledge whatever of her rights utoder said policy, either under the statutes of New York or the statutes of Missouri; that she never accepted the amount tendered her by the defendant. Plaintiff adduced evidence tending to show, that at the time defendant undertook to settle the policies, as hereinbefore stated, there was, according to the rule fixed by the statutes of Missouri (R. S. 1889, sec. 5856), a balance due on said policy sufficient to furnish a single premium for temporary insurance for the full face value of the policy for several years after the death of the assured. Plaintiff also adduced evidence tending to show, that, if the policy had been settled up and a paid up policy reissued therefor according to the method and standard fixed by the statutes of Missouri (R. S. 1889, sec. 5857), the new policy would have been for a much larger sum than eighty-nine dollars.

The case was tried by the court without the intervention of a jury. At the request of plaintiff and over the objection and exception of defendant, the court gave the following declarations of law:

‘‘1. The court instructs the court sitting as a jury that on the uncontradicted facts of the ca’se as they appear from the evidence, "the policy of insurance in this action was and is a Missouri contract governable by the laws of Missouri in force at the time of-the issuance of said polic3q and not governable by the laws of the State of New York.
“2.

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Bluebook (online)
147 S.W. 827, 241 Mo. 403, 1912 Mo. LEXIS 293, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/head-v-new-york-life-insurance-mo-1912.