Lubish v. Hawkins & Prudential Insurance

55 Pa. D. & C.2d 139, 1971 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 191
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Northampton County
DecidedOctober 18, 1971
Docketno. 27
StatusPublished

This text of 55 Pa. D. & C.2d 139 (Lubish v. Hawkins & Prudential Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Northampton County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lubish v. Hawkins & Prudential Insurance, 55 Pa. D. & C.2d 139, 1971 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 191 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1971).

Opinion

GRIFO, J.,

Charles Hawkins, defendant herein, and Joyce Hawkins Lubish, plaintiff herein, were man and wife. They became divorced, and plaintiff remarried. Incident to the divorce and by order of court dated December 11, 1957, defendant was directed to support the issue of the marriage between plaintiff and defendant. As of February 23, 1971, defendant was in arrears under said order of support in the amount of $9,062.

One of the issue of the marriage was Charles Hawkins, Jr., who, while a member of, and on assignment for, the United States Air Force, was killed on October 2,1970. Among the assets of Charles Hawkins, Jr., was a Serviceman’s Group Life Insurance Policy-Group 32000 (hereinafter referred to as SGLI), with a face value of $15,000. The policy was issued by the Prudential Insurance Company of America, garnishee in this action, pursuant to Public Law 89-214, 38 U.S.C., §765, et seq. This statute establishes a government-guaranteed, but privately administered, group life insurance plan for servicemen. Section 770(a) of the statute provides for the disposition of insurance proceeds as follows:

“Any amount of insurance under this subchapter [141]*141in force on any member or former member on the date of his death shall be paid, upon the establishment of a valid claim therefor, to the person or persons surviving at the date of his death, in the following order of precedence:

“First, to the beneficiary or beneficiaries as the member or former member may have designated by a writing received in the uniformed services prior to such death;
“Second, if there be no such beneficiary, to the widow or widower of such member or former member;
“Third, if none of the above, to the child or children of such member or former member and descendants of deceased children by representation;
“Fourth, if none of the above, to the parents of such member or former member or the survivor of them.”

Inasmuch as no evidence of a designated beneficiary was discovered, the garnishee paid to plaintiff-mother the amount of $7,500, or one-half of the total benefits payable under Charles Hawkins, Jr.’s SGLI policy. The garnishee then began processing defendant-father’s claim for the remaining one-half of the proceeds.

Plaintiff caused judgment to be entered on the aforementioned arrearages and attached the remaining proceeds of the policy of Charles Hawkins, Jr., deceased, in the hands of garnishee, Prudential Insurance Company of America.

In its answers to interrogatories in attachment and new matter, the garnishee, in accord with rule 1275(b) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure, set up Public Law 91-291, 38 U.S.C., §770(g), which provides:

“(g) Payments of benefits due or to become due under Servicemen’s Group Life Insurance made to, or on account of, a beneficiary shall be exempt from taxation, shall be exempt from the claims of creditors, [142]*142and shall not be liable to attachment, levy, or seizure by or under any legal or equitable process whatever, either before or after receipt by the beneficiary. The preceding sentence shall not apply to (1) collection of amounts not deducted from the member’s pay, or collected from him by the Secretary concerned under section 769(a) of this title, (2) levy under subchapter D of chapter 64 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (relating to the seizure of property for collection of taxes), and (3) the taxation of any property purchased in part or wholly out of such payments.”

It is the position of the garnishee that plaintiff does not have a right to attach the funds of Charles Hawkins, father of decedent, since such action is not permitted by P. L. 91-291, supra.

In her answer to new matter, plaintiff denies that Public Law 91-291, supra, grants an immunity or exception to attachment. It is the position of plaintiff that defendant is not a “beneficiary” within the meaning of subsection (g) of Public Law 91-291, supra, in that defendant would be entitled to the proceeds of the SGLI policy in lieu of a beneficiary and not as the “beneficiary” pursuant to Public Law 89-214, 38 U.S.C.A. §770(a), supra. Plaintiff further maintains that by the very words of section 770(a), “if there be no such beneficiary,” Congress has excluded defendant from the category of persons it wishes to protect under section 770(g) and that, therefore, the instant case is to be governed by the law of the Commonwealth.

The matter is before this court on the issue of whether the funds in the hands of the garnishee are subject to attachment.

DISCUSSION

While we agree that there are instances in which issues involving SGLI are governed by State law, that [143]*143is not the case here. We are not here concerned with the question of whether or not a particular individual is rightfully within a named class of beneficiaries: Davenport v. Servicemen’s Group Life Insurance Co., 119 Ga. App. 685, 168 S. E. 2d 621 (1969); United States v. Foster, 238 F. Supp. 867 (E. D. Mich., 1965). Rather, what is here involved is the direct construction of a Federal statute. It is axiomatic that congressional intent is the guidepost to judicial interpretation of Federal statutes: Stribling v. United States, 419 F.2d 1350, 1352 (8th Cir., 1969); Sinclair Refining Co. v. Atkinson, 370 U.S. 195, 8 L.Ed.2d 440 (1962). State law cannot override the words and intent of a Federal statute: Patton v. Fidelity Philadelphia Trust Co., 246 F. Supp. 1015 (E. D. Pa., 1965).

There are two sources that provide congressional intent in this regard: One lies in the legislative history of SGLI; the other lies in recourse to the words of the statute themselves. Taken together, these sources amply illustrate that plaintiff’s position is untenable.

Plaintiff’s argument is based upon an untenable construction of Public Law 89-214,38 U.S.C.A., §770(a) and (g), supra. Plaintiff reasons that by use of the words “if there be no such beneficiary” Congress has drawn an important distinction between beneficiaries who take by specific designation of the insured and persons who take by operation of the statute in the absence of such specific designation.

In sum, plaintiff maintains that only designated beneficiaries are “beneficiaries” and that those persons who take by operation of the statute are something less than or different from “beneficiaries”; and that, therefore, Congress has excluded this latter class of persons, of which defendant is one, from the protection of the exemption provided by subsection (g). With this, we cannot agree.

[144]*144Legislative history of section 770 discloses the Veterans Administration, the agency primarily concerned with administering the SGLI program, does not subscribe to plaintiff’s position. In United States Code Congressional and Administrative News, vol. 2 (1965), at page 3235, is set forth a letter from W. J. Driver, Administrator of the Veterans Administration, to the Hon. Olin E. Teague, Chairman of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives, enclosing the Veterans Administration detailed analysis of Senate Bill 2127, which analyzes and interprets section 770(a). This letter states in part:

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55 Pa. D. & C.2d 139, 1971 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 191, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lubish-v-hawkins-prudential-insurance-pactcomplnortha-1971.