Willingham v. Equitable Life Assur. Soc.

86 F.2d 72, 1936 U.S. App. LEXIS 3653
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedNovember 4, 1936
DocketNo. 8220
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 86 F.2d 72 (Willingham v. Equitable Life Assur. Soc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Willingham v. Equitable Life Assur. Soc., 86 F.2d 72, 1936 U.S. App. LEXIS 3653 (5th Cir. 1936).

Opinion

HUTCHESON, Circuit Judge.

Appellant is the widow of Harold S. Willingham, deceased. As beneficiary of a life insurance policy for the principal sum of $15,000 issued to him by appellee, she brought this suit upon it as a death claim. The defense was lapse for nonpayment of premium. To meet this defense appellant put forward three contentions: (1) Payment by applying under the policy terms for and directing the application of the available loan value to pay it; (2) waiver of default by the appellee and estoppel to claim it, evidenced by granting extensions of time to pay the premium and requests for its payment, continuing up to within a few days of death; (3) that the .provisions for “Options on Surrender or Lapse” kept the insurance in force for 3 months after default.

Appellant met the first contention, payment, with the insistence that the loan available for premium payment was insufficient to discharge it. Answering the second contention, that it had waived, or had become estopped to claim, default, it pointed out that the extensions of time it had given had been in writing and upon specific terms, and that, after the deceased had. defaulted and his policy had lapsed, he had applied in writing for restoration, “which, if granted, is not to take effect until the premiums, if any, with interest, where required, have been fully paid during my good health.”

It met the third defense, the 90-day option after default, by pointing out that the clause relied on dealt in terms not with a live, but a lapsed, policy, giving the insured 3 months to choose in which of two forms to receive its lapsed value. It pointed out, too, that by the judgment the beneficiary had been awarded the option most favorable to her.

Submitted upon jury waiver, and on a record consisting' of a stipulation, documentary evidence, and the undisputed testimony of a single witness, there were findings and judgment for defendant. Plaintiff, appellant, is here insisting that the legal effect of the undisputed facts required findings and judgment for her.

Because the facts are few and undisputed, they, the points appellant makes, and our conclusions on them, may be briefly put. On May 9,' 1930, an annual [73]*73premium of $360.45 and interest of $165.54 on a loan of $2,759.07 came due on the policy, which had been in force since May 9, 1919. On June 11, 1930, upon payment made and conditions named in a written agreement for extension, insured was given until October 9, 1930, to pay the May 9 premium. For an additional payment on October 9 the time for premium payment was extended, again by written agreement, to November 9. The premium not having been paid on the last extension date, the deceased, on November 17, 1930, applied in writing for a restoration of the policy, conditioned upon its “not taking effect until the premiums, if any, with interest if required, have been fully paid within my good health.” On November 24 deceased applied for an additional loan of unstated amount, instructing defendant to deduct the premium due May 9, 1930.

On December 5, 1930, the insured was advised by letter that, as shown by statement inclosed, a payment of $37.45 was required to complete the pending loan. The statement showed that, assuming the payment of premium due May 9, 1930, the cash surrender value was $3,330, and the loan value was that sum, less any indebtedness on it, with interest to the premium anniversary date, an amount $37.45 short of the needed sum.

Appellant and appellee agree to the figure $3,330 for the cash surrender value, and that, if interest is deducted in advance, the loan value will be insufficient. Their difference arises out of the fact that appellant insists that on a loan interest is not deductible until the end of the year; appellee, that it must be taken out in advance. Appellant’s first point, then, turns upon whether, in determining the loan value available, the interest is or is not to be taken out in advance.

On December 11 the insured was again advised that to complete the pending loan a remittance of $37.45 was required. On December 26 his attention was called by letter to the letters of December 5 and 11, and he was asked if the pending loan was to be completed. None of these letters were answered. Nothing was done to complete the loan. On January 2, 1931, the insured died.

It is appellant’s second point that the extensions to October 9 and November 9, the November agreement to restore, the receipt of application for loan, and the December letters of inquiry, effected a waiver of, or estoppel to claim, lapse for nonpayment of premium.

These are the controlling policy provisions, applicable to appellant’s first and second contentions.

As to Loans. At the head of the table of Loan and Cash Surrender Values is the following:

“Loan and Cash Value.

“The loan value is the cash value, less interest to the premium anniversary date.”

At the left of the table this appears: “The loan obtainable at the end of any given year may be secured during that year, if the premium for the entire year has been paid.”

Below the table, under the caption “Provisions relating to Loans and Surrender Value,” appears:

“Loans. At any time while this policy is in force after three full years premiums from the original registered date have been paid, the Society will advance on proper assignment and delivery of this policy, and on the sole security hereof, a sum which, with interest, shall not exceed the cash value at the end of the then current policy year, as stated in the above table, less any indebtedness to the Society hereon, provided all premiums or instalments of the same have been- fully paid. Interest shall be at the rate of 6% per annum and shall be payable on the premium anniversary date of this policy.

“Failure to repay such loan or to pay interest thereon shall not avoid this policy unless the total indebtedness hereon shall equal the total loan value, nor until thirty one days after notice shall have been mailed to the insured, and to the assignee of record, if any, to the addresses last known to the Society.”

A further provision of the policy is: “All advances upon the policy shall become due and payable when the total indebtedness upon the policy shall equal or exceed the loan value of the policy and of dividend additions. In that event the policy shall be cancelled without notice or upon such notice as shall be specified in the policy, and the loan value thereof shall be applied to extinguish all advances.”

And still another: “The beneficiary, if the policy be not assigned, shall have the right, from time to time, without the execution of any additional agreement to apply for and receive additional advances upon [74]*74said policy until the total indebtedness thereon, with interest, shall equal the then cash surrender value thereof.”

These are the option provisions of the policy on which appellant bases her third contention:

“Options on Surrender or Lapse. After three full years’ premiums from the original register date have been paid hereon, upon any subsequent default in the payment of any premium or instalment thereof, and within three months after such default, this policy may be surrendered by the insured (or assignee if any) who may elect either of the following options:

“(a) To receive the cash surrender value of this policy, or

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Bluebook (online)
86 F.2d 72, 1936 U.S. App. LEXIS 3653, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/willingham-v-equitable-life-assur-soc-ca5-1936.