Page v. Detroit Life Insurance

11 Tenn. App. 417, 1929 Tenn. App. LEXIS 92
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedNovember 23, 1929
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 11 Tenn. App. 417 (Page v. Detroit Life Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Page v. Detroit Life Insurance, 11 Tenn. App. 417, 1929 Tenn. App. LEXIS 92 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1929).

Opinion

FAW, P. J.

James H. Page died in Williamson County, Tennessee, on July 2, 1927, and this record presents a controversy as to whether his widow, Mrs. Euth Page, or his mother, Mrs. G. H. Page, is the rightful owner of the proceeds of a policy of insurance on the life of said James H. Page, which policy was issued on May 29, 1923, by the Detroit Life Insurance Company, a corporation with its Home Office in the City of Detroit, State of Michigan, in which City and *419 State the insured was residing at the time of the issuance of the policy.

Shortly after the death of the insured, both Mrs. Ruth Page and Mrs. G. H. Page furnished to the insurer proofs of death and demanded payment of the amount of the policy, but the insurer, although admitting its liability on the policy, refused to pay either of the contending claimants because of the controversy between them as to which had the superior right to the proceeds of the policy.

Thereupon, Mrs. Ruth Page filed the original bill in this case, against the Detroit Life Insurance Company and Mrs. G. H. Page as defendants, alleging that she (the complainant) was the beneficiary named in the policy when issued: that “there had been no change of the beneficiary as required by the terms of the policy or as required by law, ’ ’ and that, at the date of the death of the insured, complainant was “the sole and legal beneficiary under said policy.”

It was stated in complainant’s bill that prior to his death the insured had assigned and delivered the policy in question to the insurer, Detroit Life Insurance Company, as security for a loan made by the company to the insured; that the loan had not been paid, and that the company still had the policy in its possession. Complainant filed a photostatic copy of the policy as an exhibit to her bill.

It was further alleged in the bill that defendant Mrs. G. H. Page was “undertaking to set up some sort of claim or right to the proceeds of said policy,” but that she “had no right or semblance of right or interest whatever in said policy or the proceeds thereof.”

Complainant prayed for a judgment against defendant Detroit Life Insurance Company for the sum stipulated in said policy (which was $1000), with interest, less any amount that may be owing said Insurance Company by reason of the aforesaid loan to the insured.

Defendant Detroit Life Insurance Company answered the bill and admitted that it was liable to the beneficiary for the amount of the policy in controversy, less an “automatic premium loan” of $29.14 which it had made to the insured in his lifetime, but the defendant Insurance Company asserted that, by reason of facts stated in its answer (which will appear later in this opinion) it was unable to determine whether the complainant Mrs. Ruth Page or the defendant Mrs. G. H. Page was the lawful beneficiary of the policy at the time of the death of the insured. The Insurance Company thereupon prayed that it be permitted to file its answer as a bill of interpleader and to pay into court the sum due- from it on the policy in suit; th;at the policy be canceled and the insurer be relieved from further liability thereon.

Upon the aforesaid answer of the defendant Insurance Company, the Chancellor, with the consent of all parties to the cause, ordered that the defendant Detroit Life Insurance Company be permitted to *420 pay into the registry of the court the sum of $964.43, and that, upon such payment the defendant' Insurance Company would be released and relieved from further liability to any and all the parties to this suit on account of the issuance of said policy.'

Pursuant to said order, the Insurance Company paid the aforesaid sum of $964.43 to the Clerk and Master of the Chancery Court, and the subsequent litigation in this cause has been between the complainant Mrs. Ruth Page and the defendant Mrs. G. H. Page; hence when reference is hereinafter made to the defendant, Mrs. G. H. Page is intended, unless otherwise indicated.

Mrs. 6. H. Page answered the complainant’s bill and admitted that when the policy in question was originally issued the complainant was named therein as the beneficiary, but defendant alleged that, prior to his death, the insured (in the exercise of a right reserved to him in the insurance contract) changed the beneficiary, with the consent of the insurer, and thereby substituted the defendant as beneficiary, and that defendant was the lawful beneficiary of said policy at the time of the death of the insured, and is now entitled to the proceeds thereof.

Defendant, in expressed terms, pleaded certain provisions of the policy contract relating to a change of beneficiary, which provisions will be more particularly mentioned later in this opinion.

Defendant admitted that the insured, before his death, procured a loan from the Insurance Company, but denied “that the policy was in any sense assigned to said Company.”

Defendant filed her answer as a cross-bill, praying that she have a decree directing that the proceeds of the policy in controversy be paid over to her.

The complainant, as cross-defendant, answered the cross-bill of defendant Mrs. G. H. Page, and, in her answer, reaffirmed the allegations and denials of her original bill, and insisted that no change of beneficiary was made prior to the death of the insured, “either as required by the law or as required by the contract of insurance, evidenced by the policy.”

The cause was heard by the Chancellor, and thereafter his decree was entered ás follows:

“This cause came on to be heard before the Honorable J. C. Hobbs, Chancellor, etc., upon the original bill, the interpleader by defendant, Detroit Life Insurance Company, the answer and cross-bill of Mrs. G. H. Page, the exhibits and the oral testimony introduced at the hearing.
“Prom a consideration of all of which it appears to the court that the insured, James H. Page, prior to his death, wrote said Detroit Life Insurance Company as follows, said letter being by said Company attached to his policy of insurance:
*421 “ ‘Franklin Tenn Jnne 1, 1927
“ ‘Detroit Life Insurance Company
“ ‘i am riting you in regards to my insurance i am not in Micb any more so i want it change from Mrs. J. Hi Page for we are not living together any more that is why i want it changed she left me — i want it change at once and i will rite you as soon as i get settled i want it change to Mrs. G. H. Page my mother Franklin Tennessee R #9.
“ ‘i will be here for a while.
“ ‘Yours truly,
“‘(Signed) J. H. Page.’
“And that in response thereto said Company replied as follows:
“ ‘Detroit, Mich., June 5, 1927.
“ ‘Mr. J. H. Page,
“ ‘Franklin, Tennessee.
“ ‘Policy #50442 — May 29th.
“ ‘Dear Mr. Page:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
11 Tenn. App. 417, 1929 Tenn. App. LEXIS 92, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/page-v-detroit-life-insurance-tennctapp-1929.