Davis v. New York Life Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 18 June 1912
• Citation: 212 Mass. 310,98 N.E. 1043
• Parties: DAVIS v. NEW YORK LIFE INS. CO. (two cases).
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

212 Mass. 310

98 N.E. 1043

DAVIS v. NEW YORK LIFE INS. CO. (two cases).

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

June 18, 1912

COUNSEL

Stimson, Stockton, Livermore & Palmer and Harris

Livermore all of Boston, for plaintiffs.

William A. Morse, Francis J. Geogan, and Courtland G. Morse, all of Boston, for defendants.

OPINION

MORTON J.

In these two actions the plaintiffs seek to recover each one-sixth of the proceeds of a policy for $10,000 issued by the defendant company on the life of their grandfather on their mother's side. The policy provides that the defendant company 'in consideration of the representations made to them in the application for this policy, and of the sum of five hundred forty-one dollars and sixty cents, to them in hand paid by Jane, wife of Charles F Claflin, and of the annual premium for nine years of five hundred forty-one dollars and sixty cents, * * * do assure the life of Charles F. Claflin, shoe manfr., of Milford in the county of Worcester, state of Massachusetts, in the amount of ten thousand dollars, for the term of his natural life, commencing on the twelfth day of Mch., 1864. * * * And the said company do hereby promise and agree to and with the said assured, his executors, administrators and assigns, well and to pay, or cause to be paid, the said sum assured, to the said Jane Claflin and her legal representatives within sixty days after due notice * * * of the death of the said C. F. Claflin.'

'And in case of the death of the said J. Claflin before the deceased of the said C. F. Claflin, the amount of the said insurance shall be payable after her death to her children, for their use, or to their guardian, if under age, within sixty days after due notice and proof of the death of the aforesaid C. F. Claflin as aforesaid.'

The date of the policy was June 27, 1864. Charles F. Claflin, the insured, lived in Milford, Mass., and had no other residence. The only children of said Charles F. and Jane Claflin were Agnes M. Claflin (Davis), Grace J. Claflin and Charles A. Claflin. Agens M. Claflin (Davis) died in 1886, and the plaintiffs are her only children. Jane Claflin, the wife of the insured, died in 1907, and Charles F. Claflin, the insured, died in 1909, leaving as his only surviving children Charles A. Claflin and Grace J. Claflin. The plaintiffs have made due demand for the portion of the proceeds of the policy which their mother would have taken if living.

The questions presented relate to the construction of the contract contained in the policy. The first question is whether the contract is a Massachusetts contract or a New York contract. The evidence in regard to that matter is exceedingly meager. But the application provides that 'under no circumstances shall the policy be in force until the actual payment to and acceptance of the premium by an authorized agent of the company.' The insured lived at Milford in this state and had no other residence. The application was dated at Milford, as also was the medical certificate accompanying it. One Kimball is designated in the application as 'agent,' meaning, we infer, agent of the defendant company in this commonwealth; and from the letter dated at Lynn from him to the insured, it could be fairly inferred that the policy had been received by him from the defendant company and sent by him to and received by the insured at Milford, and that the premium on the policy was duly paid to him as required by the application. Under those circumstances we think that the contract was a Massachusetts contract. Thwing v. Great Western Ins. Co., 111 Mass. 93, 109; Millard v. Brayton, 177 Mass. 533, 59 N.E. 436, 52 L. R. A. 117, 83 Am. St. Rep. 294. It is to be noted that neither the application nor the policy contains any provision respecting the law which is to govern, or the place of performance.

The remaining question and the vital one is, What rights, if any have these plaintiffs in the proceeds of the policy? And the answer to that depends on the nature of the right or interest, if any, which their mother as one of the children of Charles and Jane Claflin had in the policy at the time of her death. The plaintiffs are not named in the policy and they take, if at all, through their mother. It is to be observed at the outset that, though the provision made by the insured for his wife and children partakes of a testamentary nature in that it takes effect after his death, the instrument before us for construction is not a will, but a contract entered into between the insured on the one side, and the insurance company, the defendant, on the other side, and which the plaintiffs are seeking to enforce as such. The rules applicable to its construction are therefore those relating to contracts and not those relating to wills. In the case of wills, in the drawing of which it is the intention of the testator alone which it is sought to express, greater liberality is allowed in order to prevent the testator's purposes from being defeated. But in the case of contracts entered into it may be after much negotiation and after much consideration of their terms by the parties interested, and where the language Cent. Dig. §§ 305-307; Dec. Dig. § 150.*]used is presumed to have been chosen because it aptly and correctly describes the respective rights and liabilities of the parties, greater strictness is properly required. In the present case the defendant company undertook to pay to Jane Claflin and her legal representatives within 60 days after proof of the death of her husband. If she died before her husband, then it undertook to pay...