Colagiovanni v. Metro. Life Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 12 March 1937
• Docket Number: No. 7757.,7757.
• Citation: 190 A. 459
• Parties: COLAGIOVANNI v. METROPOLITAN LIFE INS. CO. et al.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

190 A. 459

COLAGIOVANNI

v. METROPOLITAN LIFE INS. CO. et al.

No. 7757.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

March 12, 1937.

Exceptions from Superior Court, Providence and Bristol Counties; Patrick P. Curran, Judge.

Action by Nicola Colagiovanni against the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and another. On named defendant's exception to a decision in favor of plaintiff.

Exception sustained, and case remitted, with directions.

Benjamin Cianciarulo, of Providence, for plaintiff.

Tillinghast, Morrissey & Flynn and M. Walter Flynn, all of Providence, for defendant.

CAPOTOSTO, Justice.

This is an action in assumpsit upon an industrial life insurance policy issued by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company on the life of Eustachio Rossi. The plaintiff sued the company and the administrate tor of the estate of said Rossi. At the trial in the superior court a justice of that court, sitting without a jury, gave a decision for $359.60 in favor of the plaintiff. The case is before us on the exception of the defendant insurance company to this decision of the trial justice.

The testimony shows that on July 15, 1929, Eustachio Rossi a distant relative of the plaintiff by marriage, who had received care and assistance from the plaintiff and his wife for an extended period of time, came to the plaintiff's house with an agent of the defendant insurance company, stating that he desired to make the plaintiff the beneficiary in an industrial life insurance policy to be taken out on his, Rossi's, life. The plaintiff was illiterate and the father of seven children, the oldest of whom at that time was eight years of age. The insurance agent, in response to plaintiff's inquiry, informed him that the person who paid the premiums would be entitled to the proceeds of the policy. On July 29, 1929, the company issued a policy on Rossi's life, with the usual facility of payment clause and payable to the executor or administrator of the insured. This policy and the premium book were delivered by the company to the plaintiff and remained in his possession until the death of the insured on December 19, 1934. The plaintiff paid all premiums, believing all the while that by the policy the insurance was payable to him on Rossi's death. Upon the death of the insured, a representative of the company called upon the plaintiff and induced him to surrender the policy and the premium book, in return for a receipt of the company, upon the representation that the plaintiff would receive the proceeds of the policy within about ten days. The company later paid the amount of the policy to the administrator of the insured's estate. The plaintiff thereupon brought this action against the insurance company and the administrator.

The declaration is in two counts, one on the policy and the other on the common counts. The trial justice found as a fact that the plaintiff "met the representative of the company and arranged for insurance on this particular...