People v. Globe Mutual Life Insurance

60 How. Pr. 57
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 15, 1880
StatusPublished

This text of 60 How. Pr. 57 (People v. Globe Mutual Life Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Globe Mutual Life Insurance, 60 How. Pr. 57 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1880).

Opinion

Westbrook, J.

The proceeding in this action was by summons and complaint by the attorney-general, in which the people were named as plaintiffs and The Globe Mutual Life Insurance Company was defendant, leave to bring such action having first been granted by a judge of this court.

[60]*60The complaint alleges the insolvency of the defendant, and the need of the appointment of a receiver to take care of its assets, and to distribute the same, and that the board of trustees of the defendant, after a full and complete investigation of its affairs had unanimously requested the attorney-general to bring such action, to obtain the appointment of a receiver thereof, and to wind up its business and distribute its assets.

On the 28th day of May, 1879, an order to show cause was granted by a judge of this court, returnable on the next day at a special term thereof, to be held at the City Hall, in the city of Albany, why the injunction prohibiting the doing of business by the defendant, its officers and agents, which was incorporated in the order to show cause, should not be continued “ and why a receiver of the property and effects of the said corporation should not be appointed, pursuant to the provisions of the ¡Revised Statutes and laws of this state, with all the powers and authority conferred upon receivers in such cases, and for such other and further relief as may be just.”

On the return day of the order, the defendant appeared by Mr. William Allen Butler, one of its then attorneys and its counsel, the people by its then attorney-general (Hon. A. Schoonmaker), the superintendent of insurance by Mr. Hamilton Harris, and sundry policy-holders by Messrs. Hale and Knox.

Upon the application of the receiver the attorney-general presented a careful and exhaustive report of a committee of the board of trustees of the defendant, dated the 26th day of May, 1879, verified by their affidavit, by which it was most abundantly demonstrated that the corporation was hopelessly and irretrievably insolvent, and also a unanimous resolution of such board of trustees, adopted on the same day that the above report was made to them, asking the attorney-general to take the action and proceedings which he had then initiated, and was then pressing.

The defendant, by its then counsel, Mr. Butler, united with [61]*61the attorney-general in his application, and vigorously opposed any delay in the proceeding, and strenuously and forcibly argued that the situation and condition of the company required prompt action by the court.

The then superintendent of insurance (Hon. John F. Smyth) appeared upon the motion, and by his counsel (Hon. Hamilton Harris), concurred in the necessity of the appointment of a receiver, and subsequently, and before the making or entry of any order upon such application, filed with the court, addressed to it and to the attorney-general, a written report recommending and advising the proceeding and application, and the appointment of a receiver.

Some policy-holders appeared also by Messrs. Hale and Knox, who asked for delay in the appointment of a,receiver, They were heard, as they were not then parties to the proceeding or the action, by courtesy, but their request for delay was strenuously resisted by both the attorney-general and the counsel for the defendant, and was denied by the court.

The original order appointing Mr. James D. Fish, receiver, was filed and entered in the Albany county clerk’s office on the 10th day of June, 1879. To its form and verbiage some objections were made by the attorney-general and the counsel for the defendant, and the same was resettled, and re-entered on the 17th day of June, 1879. Upon such settlement all parties were represented by counsel, and that order is now in the form and language desired and consented to by both the representative of the people and the representative of the defendant.

A reference to that order will show that the receivership was not designed to be a temporary one pending further litigation, but final and for the purpose of distributing the effects and property of the defendant. It recites fully the proceedings which have been herein detailed, among which are the appearance of the superintendent of insurance and his consent to and concurrence in the proceeding, both through counsel in open court, and his written report filed with the court, and [62]*62the proofs presented, and then declares, “due deliberation being had in the premises, and no objections having been taken to the form or mode of 'procedure, and after hearing the allegations and proofs of the respective parties, and it appearing to the satisfaction of the court that the said defendant is insolvent, and that the assets and funds of said company are not sufficient to justify the further continuance of the business of insuring lives, granting and issuing new obligations as authorized by its charter, and that the relief asked for in the order to show cause should be granted, it is ordered that the relief asked for in said order be, and the same is hereby granted; and it is further ordered that the said motion for an injunction and receiver be, and the same is hereby granted.” The order then contains the usual injunction clause against the defendant, its officers and agents, and says: “ It is further ordered, pursuant to the statutes in that case made and provided, that James D. Fish, of Hew York city, be, and he hereby is appointed receiver of the goods, chattels, property and effects, and of all the assets and credits of said company, the defendant, The Globe Mutual Life Insurance Company, to take charge of and manage the affairs of said corporation, its property and effects, and under the order and direction of this court to distribute its assets according to law, and for that purpose he is authorized to collect, sue for, and receive the debts and demands that may be due and owing, or which may hereafter fall due, and the property of every name, kind and nature that may legally or equitably belong to said corporation, subject to such further or other order in the premises as may hereafter be made by the court, and that as such receiver he be, and is vested with, and is entitled to all the estate, real and personal property, assets, credits and effects of the said The Globe Mutual Life Insurance Company, and shall possess all the power and authority conferred upon receivers according to law.”

There are also various other clauses in the order requiring a bond to be given, and defining and prescribing the mode of [63]*63executing the trust, all of which show with equal clearness, that the trust to which the receiver was appointed, and the order made were in pursuance of chapter 902 of the laws of 1869.

The receiver, after the entry of such order, appointed, with the approval of the superintendent of insurance, Frederick J. Phillips, actuary, to investigate and report to the court and receiver upon the condition of the defendant as required by section seven of said act of 1869. This appointment, though it must have been known to the officers and attorneys of the defendant, was not questioned, and the actuary proceeded for months, without objection by motion to the court, in the discharge of his duties.

The report of such actuary has been presented to the court, and from it it appears that the defendant’s liabilities are largely in excess of its assets, and that it is unable to meet its engagements as they mature.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 How. Pr. 57, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-globe-mutual-life-insurance-nysupct-1880.