Ward v. State Farm Life Insurance Co.

833 S.W.2d 484, 1992 Mo. App. LEXIS 1226
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 21, 1992
DocketNos. 60958, 61148
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 833 S.W.2d 484 (Ward v. State Farm Life Insurance Co.) 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
Ward v. State Farm Life Insurance Co., 833 S.W.2d 484, 1992 Mo. App. LEXIS 1226 (Mo. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

GRIMM, Presiding Judge.

Children of the deceased brought this action seeking the proceeds of a State Farm life insurance policy. A companion case, brought by the widow of the deceased, seeks the same proceeds,

⅛ children’s case, the trial court dismissed State Farm’s interpleader action and granted children summary judgment for the proceeds. State Farm appeals and children cross-appeal. We reverse and remand.

I. Background

In 1983, Jake Schillinger sold a State Farm life insurance policy to Charles L. Ward, Jr., and his wife Yvonne J. Ward. The policy shows Charles as the insured, with Yvonne as an additional insured. The policy had an initial benefit of $50,000; however, it was a decreasing term policy based on a 30 year mortgage at 12%.

The policy provides that the beneficiary is stated in the application for the policy, unless later changed. Although the policy states the application is attached to it, we were not provided with a copy of the application. Children’s petition alleges that the named beneficiaries were “all children of the insured.”

Charles L. Ward, Jr., died on June 4, 1989. At that time, the policy’s death benefit was $49,150. His widow filed a claim with State Farm. Shortly thereafter, plaintiff Charles L. Ward, III, a child from a previous marriage, filed his claim with State Farm.

A. Widow’s Lawsuit

In October, 1989, widow sued State Farm and Jake Schillinger. She alleged Schilling-er sold a policy which was designed to pay the surviving spouse sufficient funds “to pay off the mortgage on the family home.” She further alleged Schillinger filled out the application and represented that the policy was appropriate “for their needs and requests.” Following her husband’s death, State Farm informed her that she was not the beneficiary. Rather, “all the children of insured” was the beneficiary designation.

State Farm sought leave to add the deceased’s children as parties. Widow consented. In January, 1990, State Farm filed [486]*486a counterclaim and a crossclaim for inter-pleader, naming the children

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Bluebook (online)
833 S.W.2d 484, 1992 Mo. App. LEXIS 1226, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ward-v-state-farm-life-insurance-co-moctapp-1992.