Lamb v. New York Life Insurance Co.

377 S.W.2d 148, 1964 Mo. App. LEXIS 721
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 18, 1964
DocketNo. 31493
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 377 S.W.2d 148 (Lamb v. New York Life Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lamb v. New York Life Insurance Co., 377 S.W.2d 148, 1964 Mo. App. LEXIS 721 (Mo. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinions

FRANK D. CONNETT, Jr., Special Judge.

Plaintiff-respondent, Joseph Lamb, brought this action against defendant-appellant, New York Life Insurance Company, for a Declaratory Judgment declaring and determining plaintiff’s rights in and to five (5) certain insurance policies issued by defendant. The parties entered into a stipulation as to the facts necessary to a determination of the issue. By the terms of these policies, plaintiff was the named “insured” and plaintiff’s father, Woodrow Lamb, was named "applicant”, and as such was given all of the powers of an insured (except to designate an irrevocable beneficiary) prior to the anniversary of the policies on which insured’s (plaintiff’s) age at the nearest birthday was twenty-one. This specifically included the right to borrow money against said policy during plaintiff’s minority. These five policies were part of an insurance program begun in 1941 when plaintiff was less than one year old and designed to create a college educational fund for plaintiff. These policies were each Twenty Pay Life with a face value of $5,000. Two of them provided endowments at age 65, and with plaintiff, the insured, as beneficiary of the endowments.

On November 10, 1952, plaintiff’s parents were divorced in Arkansas. The divorce decree required plaintiff’s father to continue to pay the premium of these insurance policies until plaintiff became of age and to “refrain from borrowing against said policies or otherwise , depleting their value.” The decree further required him to pay $300 per month to plaintiff’s mother, $150 allocated to alimony and $150 to child support. In June 1955, plaintiff’s mother sent a copy of this decree to the defendant and received this reply:

“I have discussed your letter and enclosures with our office of General Counsel and they have advised me to mark our records that no action may be taken without reference to the divorce decree dated November 12, 1952.”

In December, 1957, following an inquiry by plaintiff’s mother, defendant wrote that no cash payments could be made on such insurance policies without first securing a modification of the divorce decree.

By July, 1959, plaintiff’s father was in default in the payment of alimony and child support per terms of the decree; plaintiff was anticipating entering college; and plaintiff’s mother was threatening action against his father to enforce payment of the alimony and support payments in order to pay for plaintiff’s freshman year of college.

In August, 1959, without notice to plaintiff or his guardian, plaintiff’s father made loans totaling $4,267.55 on the five insurance policies here involved, and defendant issued checks to plaintiff’s father in that amount.

On August 18, 1959, plaintiff’s father cashed four of the checks totaling $2,600.66, [150]*150and on the same day the father deposited $2,000.00 in a checking account for the benefit of plaintiff. During the next nine months he deposited $655.75 more in this account. With the exception of one check for $24.77, drawn by his father, plaintiff used said account to purchase clothes and to pay the majority of his expenses at school during the first year.

By June, 1960, except for the payments described in the preceding paragraph, plaintiff’s father had made no payments of alimony or support money for a year; and plaintiff’s mother was again threatening action to enforce this obligation, and for the first time she learned of the policy loans made in August, 1959.

On September 1, 1960, plaintiff’s mother, by her attorney, wrote defendant reminding it of the court decree and of its acknowledgment of the terms thereof, and on October 6, 1960, the defendant replied as follows:

“I agree with you, Dr. Lamb was restrained by court order and should not have applied for the loans which were completed on five policies involved in the court order.
“We are writing to him regarding this situation and trust that there will be no difficulty in the matter. Naturally, no further payments will be made to him.”

On October 31, 1960, the Arkansas divorce court approved a stipulation between the pláintiff’s father and mother providing for (and we quote from defendant’s brief) : “(a) the absolute assignment of the insurance policies by plaintiff’s father to plaintiff’s mother, 'subject only to existing loans against the policies’ (b) sole ownership of and full dominion . over the policies by plaintiff’s mother (c) the naming of plaintiff as beneficiary of the policies, (d) the termination of the duty on the part of plaintiff’s father to pay premiums on the insurance policies, (e) the payment by plaintiff’s father of $2,000.00 to plaintiff’s mother, (f) the release by plaintiff’s mother' of all past, present, or future alimony and support claim, and (g) the assumption by plaintiff’s mother of the obligation to support, maintain and educate plaintiff until his majority.”

Plaintiff at the time of the trial was twenty-one years old and entitled to all the rights of an insured under these policies. The precise question before the trial court was whether the interest of plaintiff in these insurance policies had been affected by loans made to plaintiff’s father by defendant. Is plaintiff’s interest in these policies subject to the loans made by defendant to plaintiff’s, father in the amount of $4,267.55? The trial court found that they are not.

On the defendant’s motion for a new trial being overruled, the defendant appealed.

Defendant’s first contention is that the Circuit Court did not have jurisdiction to render a declaratory judgment because plaintiff had an adequate remedy at law by cashing in his policies, and then when defendant withheld the amount of the loans, plaintiff could sue at law for the amount withheld. The factor which keeps this from being an adequate remedy is that plaintiff is not required to cash in his policies and he should be able to ascertain his interest therein without so doing. He may want to keep his insurance in force. Furthermore, a suit to construe a contract of insurance is properly brought under Section 527.-020, RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S., of the Declaratory Judgment Act. Pennsylvania Casualty Company v. Suburban Service Bus Company, Mo.App., 211 S.W.2d 524. This is particularly true in cases like this one, where there was no dispute as to the facts.

Defendant further contends that the Court could not render judgment in this case because of the absence of- an indispensable party, i. e., plaintiff’s father. Defendant failed to raise this point in the trial court by either motion or answer, nor did it raise it in its motion for a new trial. It [151]*151has waived the claimed defect and, further, it cannot raise this issue in this court for the first time. See Section 509.340, RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S.; Ray v. Nethery, Mo., 255 S.W.2d 817; Casper v. Lee, 362 Mo. 927, 245 S.W.2d 132. See also Section 512.160, RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S.

Defendant’s third contention is that judgment should have been entered for it because, although it should not have made the loans to plaintiff’s father, the 1960 stipulation between plaintiff’s mother and father discharged it from its liability to plaintiff for having made these loans.

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Bluebook (online)
377 S.W.2d 148, 1964 Mo. App. LEXIS 721, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lamb-v-new-york-life-insurance-co-moctapp-1964.