Brigham v. Home Life Insurance Company
| Decision Date | 30 June 1881 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
| Parties | Henry R. Brigham, assignee, v. Home Life Insurance Company & others |
Suffolk. Bill in equity, filed March 20, 1880, bye the assignee in bankruptcy of William Scollan, to recover possession of a policy of life insurance issued by the defendant company to Scollan on July 9, 1878. Hearing before Colt, J., who reported the case for the consideration of the full court. The facts appear in the opinion.
Decree affirmed.
A. A Ranney, for the defendant corporation.
T. P Proctor, for the plaintiff, was not called upon.
The policy issued by the defendant company insures the life of William Scollan "in the amount of thirty-six hundred dollars, for the term of six years with endowment without participation in profits." By it the insurer "promises and agrees to and with William Scollan to pay the sum assured at its office in this city to him on the thirteenth day of October 1884, or to his children," [naming them,] "share and share alike, or to the survivors or survivor of them within sixty days after due notice and proof of loss and interest, satisfactory to the company, in accordance with the terms of this contract." The first clause is an absolute promise to pay the sum assured to Scollan on October 13, 1884, if he complies with the terms of the contract. If he lives to that time, he, or his assignee, will have the exclusive right to collect the amount. The promise in the last clause, to pay to his children, was clearly intended to be an alternative promise, and to apply only in case he should die before the day when payment was to be made to him. The promise is to pay to the children "within sixty days after due notice and proof of loss," that is, after proof of the death of the insured. Construed in its connection with the absolute promise to pay Scollan at the termination of the policy, it admits of no sensible interpretation except that it is an alternative promise to pay to the children in case Scollan shall die before October 13, 1884.
This being the true construction of the contract, it is clear that Scollan had a valuable interest in this contract of insurance, which passed to his assignee in bankruptcy. The assignment in bankruptcy conveyed to the assignee "all the estate, real and personal, of the bankrupt, with all his deeds, books and papers relating thereto," with certain exceptions not material to this case....
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