Scheele v. Lafayette Bank

97 S.W. 621, 120 Mo. App. 611, 1906 Mo. App. LEXIS 430
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 13, 1906
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 97 S.W. 621 (Scheele v. Lafayette Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Scheele v. Lafayette Bank, 97 S.W. 621, 120 Mo. App. 611, 1906 Mo. App. LEXIS 430 (Mo. Ct. App. 1906).

Opinion

BLAND, P. J.

(after stating the facts).

1. Appellant, in its brief, assigns three grounds against'the right of respondent to recover.

First. She cannot recover for the reason the contract of October 22, 1897, was not made for her benefit.

Second. Because Albert G. Scheele himself caused the policy to lapse and could not successfully prosecute a suit against the appellant for its failure to pay mortuary dues.

, Third. Because at the date of the institution of the suit, less than ninety days from the date of the death of Albert G. Scheele, respondent could not have recovered anything of the life association, had the policy been in full force and effect, and hence, if entitled to recover at all, her recovery can be for no more than nominal damages.

As we understand, it is not contended by appellant, that if respondent, for a valuable consideration, was made a beneficiary in the contract of October 22, 1897, she cannot sue in her own name, but that the contract Avas. not, in fact, entered into for her benefit, but for the benefit of Albert G. Scheele. Appellant admits, however, that if the covenant to pay future mortuary calls was for the benefit of respondent, she can sue in her OAvn name on a breach of that covenant. Its contention is, that the covenant was only for the benefit of Albert G. Scheele, the insured, and the Life Association, the insurer. In making the contract Albert Scheele had two objects in view: First, to settle the indebtedness of the Scheele Livery & Undertaking Co., to the bank, and thereby prevent a suit by the bank to test the validity of the Scheele Livery & Undertaking Co’s, deed of assignment for the benefit of its creditors, and in which Mary Scheele had been given a preference. Second, to make provision for his daughter, the respondent. The [621]*621bank had but one purpose in view, to-wit, to secure the ultimate payment of the notes the Livery & Undertaking Co. owed it. To accomplish this purpose, in consideration of being substituted as a beneficiary of five-sixths interest in the policy, it agreed that respondent should be designated in the policy as the beneficiary of the remaining one-sixth interest, and that it would “pay or cause to be paid promptly when due, at its own expense, all premiums, dues, assessments, or charges of any kind whatsoever,” which should become payable under the policy from the time it was delivered to it. Tinder the terms of the policy, the obligations to pay the mortuary calls was primarily on Albert G. Scheele. The appellant’s covenant to pay the calls was, therefore, directly for his benefit. If the mortuary calls had been paid in accordance with the terms of the policy, on the death of her father, respondent would have been entitled to receive one-sixth of five thousand dollars from the life association. The payment of the calls according to the terms of the policy Avould, therefore, have benefited her. This interest, however, appellant contends, was only incidental and indirect and not such as to give her a right to sue on the contract.

In Howsmon v. Trenton Water Co., 119 Mo. l.c. 308, 24 S. W. 784, it is said: “The rule (permitting a third party, for whose benefit a contract is made,-to sue on the contract in his own name) is not so far extended as to give a third person, who is only indirectly and incidentally benefited by the contract, a right to sue upon it.” In that case it was held: “A water company which agrees with a toAvn to be liable for damages caused by its failure to supply water sufficient to extinguish all fires cannot be sued on such agreement by a citizen though he and others pay a special tax to the company under the contract.”

Other cases in which it was held, that the party suing could only receive an incidental benefit from a performance of the contract sued on and for that reason [622]*622could, not sue in his own name are St. Louis & T. Packet Co. v. Mo. Pac. Railway, 35 Mo. App. 272; Carpenter v. Reliance Realty Co., 103 Mo. App. l. c. 502, 77 S. W. 1004, and cases cited; National Bank v. Grand Lodge, 98 U. S. 123.

In Markel v. Western Union Tel. Co., 19 Mo. App. l. c. 85, the court said:

“It is settled law in this State that an action lies upon a contract made by a defendant for the benefit of a plaintiff, although the plaintiff was not privy to the consideration. [Rogers et al. v. Gosnell, 58 Mo. 590, and cases cited.] But to give a plaintiff the right to sue for the breach of a contract, the contract itself must be made for his benefit. Where the benefit to the plaintiff would be incidental to carrying out the contract, but was not the cause of malting the contract, the plaintiff cannot maintain an action for its breach.”

In Vrooman v. Turner, 69 N. Y. l. c. 283-4, the court said: “To give a third party who may derive a benefit from the performance of the promise, an action, there must be, first, an intent by the promisee to secure some benefit to the third party, and second, some privity between the two, the promisee and the party to be benefited, and some obligation or duty owing from the former to the latter which Avould give him a legal or an equitable claim to the benefit of the promise, or an equivalent from him personally.” This case was approvingly cited in Armstrong v. School District, 28 Mo. App. l. c. 181.

Where an agreement is made to “save harmless” another against the claims óf a third person, the latter cannot sue on the agreement as it was not made for his benefit. [State v. Railway, 125 Mo. 596, 28 S. W. 1074.]

The intention of Albert G. Scheele and the bank can only be ascertained by taking into view both the contract of October 22, 1897, and the reissued policy. The contention of appellant is, that the contract of October twenty-second was completed Avhen it was executed, and as the policy was not delivered until something like two [623]*623months afterwards, the contract cannot be aided or interpreted by it. Among other things, the contract provided that Albert G. Scheele should cause to be made out, in the name of the bank, a five-sixths interest in and to the policy. Nothing is said as to the beneficiary for the remaining one-sixth. After the contract was signed the bank furnished Albert G. Scheele with a blank application for a change in the name of the beneficiary in the policy. The change was made on this application, designating the bank (creditor) as beneficiary of five-sixths and Lizzie Scheele as beneficiary of one-sixth of the amount of the insurance, and was then delivered to the bank and retained by it without objection or protest. Until the policy was reissued the bank was not obligated to do anything. Its issuance, according to the terms of the contract, was essential, therefore, to put that instrument into operation — to complete it as a contract —and it was of no effect until the reissuance of the policy. As was said by Lord Mansfield, in Alderson v. Temple, 4 Burr. 2239, “A contract shall be presumed complete upon any distinction where the justice of the case requires it.” That contracts, especially of this character, may take effect in the future is settled by the case of Beattie Mfg. Co. v. Gerardi, 166 Mo. 142, 65 S. W. 1035; Street & Johnson v. Goodale, Barger & Co., 77 Mo. App. 318. In none of the cases holding the party plaintiff had no beneficial interest in the contract sued on, was he definitely named as a party in interest, nor was the sum he was to receive stated.

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Bluebook (online)
97 S.W. 621, 120 Mo. App. 611, 1906 Mo. App. LEXIS 430, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scheele-v-lafayette-bank-moctapp-1906.