Aetna Life Insurance Company v. France

• Decision Date: 01 October 1876
• Citation: 24 L.Ed. 287,94 U.S. 561
• Parties: AETNA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY v. FRANCE
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

94 U.S. 561

24 L.Ed. 287

AETNA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY v. FRANCE.

October Term, 1876

ERROR to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The facts are stated in the opinion of the court.

Mr. Samuel C. Perkins for the plaintiff in error.

Mr. Nathan H. Sharpless, contra.

MR. JUSTICE BRADLEY delivered the opinion of the court.

This action was brought by David France and Lucetta P., his wife, to recover the amoun of a policy of insurance for $10,000, issued by the AEtna Life Insurance Company on the life of Andrew J. Chew, of Philadelphia, dated Sept. 13, 1865, and payable to the said Lucetta, who was Chew's sister.

The proposals for the insurance, made out upon one of the printed blanks of the company, were signed by both Chew and Mrs. France. The following is a copy of the introductory part of the policy:——

'This policy of insurance witnesseth, that the AEtna Life Insurance Company, in consideration of the sum of $243.50, to them in hand paid by Andrew J. Chew, for the benefit of Lucetta P. France, his sister, and of the annual premium of $243.50, to be paid to said company on or before the thirteenth day of September in every year during the continuance of this policy, do assure the life of Andrew J. Chew, of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, in the amount of $10,000 for the term of his life.

'And the said company do hereby promise and agree to and with the said assured, her executors, administrators, and assigns, well and truly to pay, or cause to be paid, the said sum insured to the said assured, her executors, administrators, or assigns, within ninety days after due notice and proof of the death of the said Andrew J. Chew, and in either case all indebtedness of the party to the company shall be deducted from the sum insured. If any notes given by the said Andrew J. Chew for any portion of the cash part of premium on the within policy for any current year shall mature and not be paid, the policy shall become void from that date, and all payments of premium thereon forfeited to said company.'

The policy, amongst other things, contained the following stipulation:——

'And it is also understood and agreed to be the true intent and meaning hereof, that if the proposal, answers, and declaration made by the said Andrew J. Chew, and bearing date the thirteenth day of September, 1865, and which are hereby made part and parcel of this policy as fully as if herein recited, and upon the faith of which this agreement is made, shall be found in any respect false or fraudulent, then and in such case this policy shall be null and void.

The trial resulted in a verdict and judgment for the plaintiffs. The defendant sued out this writ of error.

Numerous exceptions were taken, on which errors are assigned here; but they are all reducible to two heads, or grounds of defence, viz.: 1. Want of insurable interest in Lucetta P. France; 2. Misrepresentation and breach of warranty as to the age and health of said Chew. It is insisted that the rulings and charge of the court below on these points were erroneous.

First, On the question whether Lucetta P. France had an insurable interest in the life of Chew, the conceded facts are that she was his sister, as stated in the policy; that, at the time the policy was issued, she was married to the other plaintiff, David France, and in no way dependent on her brother for her support; that the latter was earning his living as a ladies' shoemaker, and was of small means. Evidence was given tending to show that Mrs. France had, at different times, loaned money to her brother to an amount of some $2,000, and lent him $400 more in September, 1865; that a provious policy of like amount with the present had been obtained of the defendant company on Chew's life for his sister's benefit in June of the same year, and that at the time of issuing the policy now in suit he was unmarried, but was engaged to be married, and was in fact married the next day. The policy, as well as the several receipts for the annual premiums, signed by the secretary of the company, and countersigned by its agent in Philadelphia, all acknowledge that said premiums were received from Chew.

The construction given to the policy by the court below was, that it was a contract between the company and Chew for an assurance of his life, with a stipulation and agreement that the money should be paid to his sister; and the court held that such a policy is sustainable at la on account of the nearness of the relationship between the parties, and especially as Mrs. France, at the time the insurance was effected, was one of Chew's next of kin, prospectively interested in his estate as a distributee. We concur in the construction of the policy made by the court, and in the validity of the transaction. As held by us in the case of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company v. Schaefer, supra, p. 457, any person has a right to procure an insurance on his own life and to assign it to another, provided it be not done by way of cover for a wager policy; and where the relationship between the parties, as in this case, is such as to constitute a good and valid consideration in law for any gift or grant, the transaction is entirely free from such imputation. The direction of payment in the policy itself is equivalent to such an assignment.

The insurance company gave in evidence three promissory notes given by Lucetta P. France herself for part of the last three premiums paid on the policy, and requested the court to charge, that if the jury believed that the premiums on the policy were paid by Lucetta P. France, whether in cash or by her notes, there was evidence from which they could find that the application for insurance was made and the policy in question taken out by her for her own benefit; and, if such was the case, she must show an insurable interest in the life of her brother, beyond that of mere relationship, before she could recover. The court refused so to charge; and, we think, rightly. Waiving the question, whether, merely as sister of Chew, Mrs. France could have effected in her own name an insurance on his life, without its being obnoxious to the charge of a wager policy,...