Lunt v. Aetna Life Insurance

149 N.E. 660, 253 Mass. 610, 1925 Mass. LEXIS 1331
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedNovember 24, 1925
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 149 N.E. 660 (Lunt v. Aetna Life Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lunt v. Aetna Life Insurance, 149 N.E. 660, 253 Mass. 610, 1925 Mass. LEXIS 1331 (Mass. 1925).

Opinion

Carroll, J.

The defendant’s demurrer to the plaintiff’s declaration was sustained in the Superior Court, and the case was reported to this court.

The plaintiff alleges in his declaration, in substance, that the defendant “made to him” a policy of insurance, “hereto annexed” in the sum of $10,000, against loss from liability for damages for death or bodily injury suffered by any person by means “of the vehicles for which a charge is made in the premium, and the use thereof . . . while in charge of the plaintiff or his agents,” from April 16, 1921, to April 16, 1922, “according to the verdicts and judgments in certain cases herein described”; that in June, 1921, one Peterson “so received and suffered bodily injuries” and recovered a judgment for $20,000 in an action against the plaintiff; that one Ekberg also brought an action against the plaintiff for injuries sustained on the same date and recovered a judg[612]*612■ment of $5,000; that other persons also brought actions against the plaintiff for injuries “so received” and recovered judgments respectively “approximating $5,000”; that the plaintiff seasonably notified the defendant of the claims of the injured plaintiff; that the defendant “did come in and defend said actions which actions and trials resulted in verdicts and judgments against the plaintiff as aforesaid”; that the defendant was bound by the terms of the policy to pay the plaintiff the amount of these judgments “to the extent and amount of its policy”; that the defendant has failed to pay according to the terms of the policy; and that the defendant owes the plaintiff the sum of $10,000 and interest, as provided in the policy.

The defendant’s demurrer is based on two grounds: first, that there is no allegation in the declaration that the plaintiff has paid to the judgment creditors referred to in the declaration a sum equal to the amount of the policy; and second, that the plaintiff has not negatived the existence of the various conditions set forth in sub-paragraph (1) of the policy, particularly clause (c) thereof which refers to accidents to employees of the insured.

In support of the first ground of the demurrer the defendant relies on G. L. c. 175, §§ 112, 113. It contends that by this statute a person recovering a judgment against the insured becomes a beneficiary under the policy to the exclusion of the insured, unless it appears that the insured has paid the loss to the extent of the policy; that immediately on recovery of judgment against the plaintiff, the various creditors who had secured judgments against him had, under the terms of the statute, a hen on the amount due under the policy, as between the insured and insurer.

By G. L. c. 214, § 3, cl. 10, the injured party is given a remedy to reach and apply in equity, in satisfaction of a judgment for bodily injury, the obligation of an insurance company to the judgment debtor under a policy insuring him against liability “for loss or damage from such injury or death.” In Lorando v. Gethro, 228 Mass. 181, St. 1914, c. 464, §§ 1, 2, (now in substance G. L. c. 175, §§ 112, 113; c. 214, § 3, cl. 10) were declared to be constitutional.

[613]*613Section 112 provides in express terms that whenever a loss occurs on account of a casualty covered by the insurance contract the liability of the company shall become absolute, “and the payment of said loss shall not depend upon the satisfaction by the insured of a final judgment against him for loss or damage or death occasioned by said casualty.” By these words of the statute, the insured’s right to recover from the defendant does not depend upon his satisfaction of the judgments against him. The liability of the defendant to the plaintiff becomes absolute when the loss occurred by reason of the casualty, and the payment to the plaintiff does not depend upon his satisfaction of the judgments. If the contention of the defendant were sound, the insured might receive little, if any, benefit from the insurance; he might be without means to satisfy the judgment. As was said in Lorando v. Gethro, supra, at page 189, the statute (G. L. c. 175, §§ 112, 113) is designed “to afford to the insured of modest resources the direct benefit of his insurance. It well might be a practical impossibility for an insured who has complied with every other term of his contract and has paid all premiums demanded by the insured, first to pay the loss and damage for which he was liable and against which he was insured. The man without capital or credit might be powerless to meet his obligation and put himself in position to recover against the insurer.” This construction of the statute was adhered to in the amendment of St. 1923, c. 149, § 1, which enacted that the satisfaction by the insured of a final judgment for loss or damage, shall not be a condition precedent of the duty of the insurer to make payment for the loss or damage. In fact one of the purposes of the statute (G. L. c. 175, §§ 112, 113) was to prevent the enforcement of conditions in policies requiring that no action should he against the insurer until the judgment against the insured had been satisfied. Lorando v. Gethro, supra, at pages 186, 187. The defendant’s contention as to the payment of loss is contrary to the terms of the statute. Lorando v. Gethro, supra.

The company is not exposed to a double liability because of this statute. The injured party can have the insurance [614]*614applied to the satisfaction of his judgment against the insured. He has a temporary hen upon this insurance money and may enforce the lien by the usual remedies of a judgment creditor, Lorando v. Geihro, supra, or by G. L. c. 214, § 3, cl. 10; see G. L. c. 246, § 33. The statute gives the judgment creditor a valuable right which he can put into execution if he desires, but the plaintiff is not required to satisfy the judgment before he can recover against the defendant. Nothing contrary to what has been said was decided in Cogliano v. Ferguson, 245 Mass. 364. As the plaintiff was not obliged to allege and prove the satisfactions of the judgments the demurrer could not be sustained on the first ground relied on by the defendant.

The demurrer was also sustained on the second ground, the plaintiff’s declaration failing to negative various candi-. tians which the court ruled were to be treated as exceptions limiting the scope of liability. The decision on this point depends on the language and structure of the policy. The governing principle is stated in Commonwealth v. Hart, 11 Cush. 130, at page 134, as follows: “The rule of pleading a statute which contains an exception is usually expressed thus: 'If there be an exception in the enacting clause, the party pleading must show that his adversary is not within the exception; but if there be an exception in a subsequent clause or subsequent statute, that is matter of defence, and is to be shown by the other party.’ The same rule is applied in pleading a private instrument of contract.

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Bluebook (online)
149 N.E. 660, 253 Mass. 610, 1925 Mass. LEXIS 1331, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lunt-v-aetna-life-insurance-mass-1925.