Alfsen v. Crouch

• Citation: 89 S.W. 329
• Parties: ALFSEN v. CROUCH et al.
• Decision Date: 21 October 1905
• Court: Supreme Court of Tennessee

89 S.W. 329

ALFSEN v. CROUCH et al.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

October 21, 1905.

Appeal from Chancery Court, Hamilton County; T. M. McConnell, Chancellor.

Action by Ule Alfsen against Catherine Crouch and others. From a decree of the Court of Chancery Appeals in favor of defendants, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Scott & Yarnell and Sam H. Seymour, for complainant. Brown & Spurlock, for defendants.

WILKES, J.

This is a suit by the complainant to recover from the defendant Catherine Crouch $2,000, the amount of an insurance policy issued by the Woodman of the World, a fraternal order, to Mrs. Catherine Crouch upon the life of Alf Alfsen.

It appears that Alfsen was a native of Norway, who went to sea when he was about 12 years old, and after wandering from place to place for some time he came to the house of Mrs. Crouch, on Mission Ridge, near Chattanooga, and lived with her as a florist and gardener for something like three years. He was a man afflicted with an offensive disease, but is described as bright, pleasant, and interesting. He was able to do but little, if any, work, and was supported and taken care of by Mrs. Crouch. He had taken out a policy of insurance in the Woodman of the World at Mobile, Ala., for $2,000. This was payable to his father, Ule Alfsen. Several months before his death he surrendered this certificate, in which his father was named as beneficiary, and procured the issuance of a new certificate in favor of Mrs. Crouch, and after his death the amount of insurance called for by this latter certificate was paid to Mrs. Crouch.

The theory of the bill is that this fund was a trust fund, that the surrender of the first certificate and the issuance of the second certificate was procured by fraud, and that Mrs. Crouch had no insurable interest in the life of the deceased.

It appears that he had become indebted to Mrs. Crouch in a considerable sum for his maintenance during the three years, and was anxious to pay her and remunerate her for her kindness. In order to comply with the rules of the order, Alfsen was adopted by Mrs. Crouch as her son. This was done under legal advice, and the matter was submitted to the principal officer of the order at Omaha, Neb., and was approved by him, and the first certificate was canceled, and the second issued. This last certificate was recognized by the order as binding upon it, and the money was paid to Mrs. Crouch upon the death of the insured.

Without going into the various questions discussed by counsel, we think the merits of this controversy lie within a very narrow compass.

When the first beneficial certificate was surrendered, it ceased to have any further force or effect. It does not matter whether the second certificate was regularly issued or not. It does not matter whether the adoption proceedings were regular and legal or not. It does not matter whether Mrs. Crouch was entitled to be a beneficiary or not in any insurance upon the life of the deceased, so far as the beneficiary in the first certificate is concerned. If there was any invalidity,...