Odom v. Travelers Insurance

174 F. Supp. 426, 1959 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3052
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Arkansas
DecidedJune 16, 1959
DocketNo. 679
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 174 F. Supp. 426 (Odom v. Travelers Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Odom v. Travelers Insurance, 174 F. Supp. 426, 1959 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3052 (W.D. Ark. 1959).

Opinion

JOHN E. MILLER, Chief Judge.

On December 4, 1957, the plaintiff filed his complaint in the Circuit Court of Lafayette County, Arkansas, seeking to recover on a policy of life insurance issued to Edd Lee Lovejoy, the insured, by defendant, The Travelers Insurance Company, in the sum of $10,000, together with twelve percent penalty and attorney’s fee.

The policy, No. 2819076, was issued January 28,1957. The beneficiary designated in the policy was “to my estate.” The defendant insurance company agreed in the policy to pay the designated beneficiary at the home office of the company in Hartford, Connecticut, the amount of the insurance stated therein immediately on receipt of the company’s prescribed forms of due proof of the death of the insured during the continuance of the contract.

The policy provided that the beneficiary might be changed by the insured as follows:

“Subject to written approval of the Company and the right of the as-signee, if any, the Beneficiary if not irrevocably designated may be changed at any time and from time to time during the continuance of this contract, such new designation to be effective as of the date of execution thereof, whereupon all rights of the former Beneficiary shall cease. If the Beneficiary or Beneficiaries or any of them named herein shall not survive the Insured, the proceeds of the contract or the share of the deceased Beneficiary or Beneficiaries, as the case may be, shall be paid to the executors, administrators or assigns of the Insured, unless otherwise provided in or by indorsement upon this contract or attached hereto.”

[428]*428In due time the defendant insurance company removed the case to this court and filed its answer and counterclaim. In its answer the defendant insurance company admitted the issuance of the policy and that it was obligated by the terms thereof to pay the sum of $10,000, less $13 for a premium which was due July 28, 1957, and had not been paid; that it was willing to pay the sum of $9,987 but that there were conflicting claims in that the plaintiff, who had been appointed Administrator of the Estate of Edd Lee Lovejoy, the insured, was making claim for said sum and that Georgianna Dedow was likewise making a claim for payment of said amount by virtue of what she claimed to be a valid will of the decedent, Edd Lee Lovejoy, dated June 12, 1957.

In its counterclaim the defendant insurance company asked that Georgianna Dedow be made a party and that it be permitted to pay the said sum of $9,-987.00 into the registry of the court, and that it be discharged.

The plaintiff is a citizen and resident of the State of Arkansas. The defendant insurance company is a citizen and resident of the State of Connecticut and authorized to engage in the life insurance business in Arkansas. Georgianna De-dow was and is now a citizen and resident of the State of Louisiana.

Following the filing of the answer and counterclaim by the defendant insurance company, the court on December 26, 1957, directed that summons be issued and served on the said Georgianna Dedow and restrained the plaintiff and Mrs. De-dow from instituting or prosecuting in any other court any claim to the proceeds of said insurance.

On January 20, 1958, Mrs. Dedow filed a motion for additional time to answer, in which she alleged that:

“This defendant’s right to recovery of the funds heretofore inter-pleaded into the Registry of the Court arises from the last will and testament executed by the said Edd Lee Lovejoy, deceased. Said will as of the date of this motion has not been admitted to probate.
“This defendant is. causing said will to be admitted to probate in the 26th Judicial District Court of Bossier Parish of Louisiana, and she desires additional time within which to answer the cross-complaint for interpleader so that she may rightfully allege the admission of such will to probate by way of answer. It will reasonably require thirty days from the date of filing hereof to cause said will to be admitted to probate.”

On the same day the motion was filed the court extended for thirty days the time for her to answer the counterclaim for interpleader.

On February 17, 1958, Mrs. Dedow filed her “Answer and Claim to Fund,” in which she alleged that the moneys represented by the fund now interpleaded are the proceeds of a life insurance policy issued by defendant insurance company upon the life of Edd Lee Lovejoy, deceased. She attached a photostatic copy of the policy, and further alleged that while the policy designated the beneficiary as “to my estate,” the right was reserved unto the insured to change the beneficiary at any time. She further alleged:

“Upon the June 12, 1957, the said Edd L. Lovejoy executed his last will and testament, holographic in form, wherein, by specific reference to the policy of insurance herein-before described, he expressed his desire that the beneficiary of said policy of insurance be changed from ‘my estate’ to ‘Georgianna Dedow’, this claimant. The said Edd L. Lovejoy died upon July 30,1957, and his said last will and testament was duly admitted to probate in the 26th Judicial District Court of Bossier Parish, Louisiana, upon the 24th day of January, 1958. A copy of said will is attached hereto marked Exhibit ‘B’ and made a part hereof as if fully set out herein.
“Pursuant to said last will and testament and the change of bene[429]*429ficiary expressed therein, this claimant, Georgianna Dedow, is entitled to' the fund now in the registry of the court and the claim of the plaintiff, Orville M. Odom, Administrator, thereto should in all things be denied.”

Upon the filing of the answer by the defendant in interpleader, Mrs. Dedow, the plaintiff on March 6, 1958, filed his motion for additional time to reply to the answer and claim of Mrs. Dedow, and on the same day the court extended the time of plaintiff in which to file a reply to said answer and claim.

On September 13, 1958, the court entered an order sustaining the inter-pleader and discharging the defendant, The Travelers Insurance Company, from any and all further liability with respect to the insurance policy herein involved.

On October 13, 1958, by agreement of counsel for the plaintiff, the Administrator, and the defendant in interpleader, Mrs. Dedow, the court entered the following order:

“By agreement of counsel, it is ordered by the court' that the said interpleader be allowed thirty days from this date within which to take whatever action she may deem necessary in the Probate Court of Lafayette County, Arkansas, and the time heretofore granted to the plaintiff to reply to the answer of the interpleader is further extended until the disposition of litigation in the said Probate Court of Lafayette County, Arkansas.”

Mrs. Dedow and her attorneys decided not to file a proceeding for the probate of the will in the Probate'Court of Lafayette County, Arkansas, and her attorneys advised the attorneys for the plaintiff that no such action would be taken. Upon receipt of such information the plaintiff on May 13, 1959, filed his reply to the answer and claim of Mrs. Dedow.

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174 F. Supp. 426, 1959 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3052, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/odom-v-travelers-insurance-arwd-1959.