Mid-Continent Life Ins. Co. v. Sharrock

1933 OK 94, 20 P.2d 154, 162 Okla. 127, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 538
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedFebruary 14, 1933
Docket21532
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 1933 OK 94 (Mid-Continent Life Ins. Co. v. Sharrock) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mid-Continent Life Ins. Co. v. Sharrock, 1933 OK 94, 20 P.2d 154, 162 Okla. 127, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 538 (Okla. 1933).

Opinion

OSBORN, J.

This action was filed in the district court of Johnston county by Henry Wade Sharrock against the Mid-Continent Life Insurance Company, a corporation, and involves two insurance policies in the sum of $5,000 each. Plaintiff alleges that the policies were sold and delivered to him on the dates of October 15, 1925; and March 19, 1926, respectively, and that ho paid the first annual prémiums thereon; that the policies provided that if the insured became wholly disabled by bodily injuries or diseases, the company would pay to insured a monthly income of one i>er cent, of the face amount of the policy, which income would be continued during the lifetime and continued disability of the insured, and under such conditions the premiums would be waived. Plaintiff alleges that during the spring and summer of 1926, he had a nervous breakdown, and became wholly disabled, and oii October 20, 1926, made proof of his condition to the company. He charged that, on March 28, 192-7, an agent of the company called at his home' and tendered to him the amount of the premiums already paid and that he surrendered'tó 'this agent the two policies in question and- tiiey were subsequently canceled by the company; that on account of his mental condition at the time he did not understand the nature of the transaction and that the company’s agent, being advised as to his mental condition, practiced fraud upon him to induce him to surrender the policies. . Plaintiff seeks judgment for the sum of $2,625, being the amount accrued on the policies on the basis of the disability provision, and asks that the policies be adjudged to be in full force and effect and restored to plaintiff.

Defendant entered a general denial and pleaded settlement with ¡plaintiff, alleging that the policies were- voluntarily surrendered for cancellation, and that defendant refunded the full premiums theretofore paid by the plaintiff. The cause came on for trial on November 6, 192-91, the court submitting same to a jury.

The jury .was instructed that if they believed from the evidence that plaintiff was so mentally deranged that he did not. understand the nature of the transaction at the time he and his wife surrendered the policies to the defendant, and if they further found that at the time of settlement he was totally and permanently disabled, their verdict should be for plaintiff, otherwise the verdict should be for the defendant.

The jury returned a verdict which is as follows:

“We the jury, impaneled and sworn in the above-entitled cause, do upon our oaths find that the plaintiff was insane at the time of the settlement and did not understand such settlement. ”

Whereupon the court rendered judgment in which it found that in the summer of 1920, the plaintiff had suffered a nervous breakdown and had become wholly 'disabled, by reason of disease of his nerves and mind, from engaging in any occupation or employment Whatever for remuneration or profit, and further found that while suffering from said nervous and mental breakdown, the defendant, knowing- plaintiff’s condition, refunded to him the premiums paid on said policies and secured from plaintiff the policies and caused them to be canceled, which constituted a fraud upon plaintiff, and ordered the policies reinstated from the date of April 20, 1927, and rendered judgment against defendant for $2,584.01, being the amount ac *129 crued under the disability clause of the policy less the amount of the premiums refunded to plaintiff.

From this judgment the defendant has appealed.

Defendant contends that this action is one sounding in law, and that the evidence is insufficient to warrant the verdict of the jury, and the verdict of the jury is insufficient to warrant the judgment. Plaintiff contends that this is an action in equity, and that the money judgment was given by the court as incidental to the primary relief— the reinstatement of the policies.

At the outset, it is necessary for this court to determine whether this case is controlled by the principles of law or equity. This issue is determinable by the pleadings, rights and remedies of 'the parties. Newbern v. Farris, 149 Okla. 74, 299 P. 192.

The ¡primary cause of action here on the part of the plaintiff is ■ a reinstatement of the life insurance policies. In this connection plaintiff alleges fraud on the part of the company. The defendant denies the fraud and pleads the cancellation of the policies. As an incident to the reinstatement of the policies, there is an issue of a money judgment arising under the disability clause of the policies. In the event ¡plaintiff is unsuccessful in securing the reinstatement of the policies, his cause of action for a money judgment must fail.

It is therefore clear that the gravamen of this action is the reinstatement of the policies, and that the question of a hioney judgment is merely incidental thereto, and that this is a case of equitable cognizance. Warner v. Coleman, 107 Okla. 292, 231 P. 1053; Simmons v. Harris, 108 Okla. 189, 235 P. 508.

Since the court in this case is acting as a chancellor in equity, it can determine, not only the equitable question involved, that is, the reinstatement of the policies, but it is also authorized to render such other relief as might be justified under the facts, even though legal principles are involved. In the case of Southwestern Surety Insurance Co. v. Douglas, 81 Okla. 232, 198 P. 334, the court said;

‘‘As courts of equity have always asserted the right to give complete relief on all matters properly brought before them, the party who seeks in a court of equity relief by reformation of a written instrument or bond may ask and obtain reformation thereof and damages for a breach of a condition of indemnity therein contained, when reformed.”

See, also, Depuy v. Selby, 76 Okla. 307, 185 P. 107.

In the case of McKay v. Kelly, 130 Okla. 62, 264 P. 814, it is said:

“Where a court of equity has obtained jurisdiction of a controversy for any purpose, it will retain jurisdiction for the purpose of administering complete relief, and it may to this end determine purely legal rights which otherwise would be beyond its authority.”

The case being of equitable cognizance, the court could, therefore, grant full and complete relief by finding the facts as to his disability and rendering judgment in accordance with such findings.

Defendant contends that the judgment of the court is not justified by the verdict of the jury. But our courts have repeatedly held that the verdict of a jury in matters of equitable cognizance is advisory only, and may be entirely disregarded by the court. In the case of Kentucky Bank & Trust Co. v. Prichett, 44 Okla. 87, 143 P. 338, the rule is stated as follows:

“In cases of equitable cognizance, while the judge may call in a jury on consent to one, for the purpose of advising him upon the questions of fact, ho may adopt or reject their conclusions, as he sees fit, and the whole matter must eventually be left to him to determine, and instructions to the jury furnish no grounds of error upon appeal. It is not only the right, but the duty, of the court, to have determined all questions of fact as well as of law.” Crump v. Lanham, 67 Okla. 33, 168 P. 43; Teachers Conservative Investment Association v. England, 115 Okla. 298, 243 P. 137.

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Bluebook (online)
1933 OK 94, 20 P.2d 154, 162 Okla. 127, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 538, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mid-continent-life-ins-co-v-sharrock-okla-1933.