Farley v. Prudential Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 26 April 1972
• Docket Number: No. B--2869,B--2869
• Citation: 480 S.W.2d 176
• Parties: Connie L. FARLEY, Petitioner, v. PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE COMPANY et al., Respondents.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

Page 176

480 S.W.2d 176

Connie L. FARLEY, Petitioner, v. PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE COMPANY et al., Respondents.

No. B--2869.

Supreme Court of Texas.

April 26, 1972.

Rehearing Denied June 7, 1972.

Carter, Callender & Branton, Jonathan Sox, San Antonio, for petitioner.

John R. Bryant, Thompson, Knight, Simmons & Bullion, J. P. Jones, Dallas, for respondent.

DENTON, Justice.

Prudential Insurance Company of America filed this suit impleading petitioner, Connie L. Farley, and the respondent, Rhonda Riley Burleson, who were adverse claimants to the proceeds of a Group Life Insurance Policy on the life of Lt. John H. Farley, deceased. Prudential tendered the amount of the policy into the registry of the court and filed a motion for summary judgment to be discharged from liability. The trial court granted the insurer's motion, from which no appeal has been taken. The trial court also granted respondent Burleson's motion for summary judgment awarding her the proceeds of the policy. The court of civil appeals affirmed 468 S.W.2d 147. We reverse the judgments of both courts and remand the cause to the trial court.

Lieutenant Farley, a Cavalry officer in the U.S. Army, took out the life insurance policy pursuant to the provisions of the Servicemen's Group Life Insurance Act, 38 U.S.C.A. § 765 et seq. On October 10, 1967, he named Rhonda Lavon Riley, a friend, as the designated beneficiary of the policy. She remained his only formally designated beneficiary on file with the United States Army at the time of his death.

Respondent Burleson subsequently married and is the former Rhonda Lavon Riley. In reply to the interpleader action respondent alleged that as the Army records show that she was the designated beneficiary, she was entitled to the proceeds, and moved for a summary judgment. The trial court granted the summary judgment and awarded her the proceeds. The court of civil appeals sustained the summary judgment, holding that there was no evidence of probative force that Lt. Farley executed an instrument changing his beneficiary to Connie L. Farley, which was received in the offices of his uniformed service prior to his death.

Lieutenant Farley married the petitioner, Connie L. Farley in Hawaii on December 2, 1968, while on rest and relaxation leave. He returned to the war zone and was killed in action on June 2, 1969. The petitioner alleges that after Farley's return to Viet Nam, he executed the necessary change of beneficiary form to designate her as his beneficiary of the policy in question. She further alleges that the Army misplaced the form or that it was lost in the combat zone.

To support her claim, petitioner pleaded that her husband did in fact execute a change of beneficiary form designating her as his named beneficiary. She filed the depositions of two servicemen who were at Dong Tam, Lt. Farley's base camp, during the period in which he would have made the beneficiary change. The depositions are by Chief Warrant Officer Jesse C. Morrisett, who was in charge of Lt. Farley's personnel file while he was at Dong Tam, and Sgt. Edward Bill, the Chief Legal Clerk in the Judge Advocate General's office at Dong Tam. Morrisett testified that his office, the Adjutant General's office, was the proper place for such changes to be made. He testified that Lt. Farley came into the office prior to his marriage to inquire about changing the necessary papers to reflect his coming marriage. Morrisett said that he asked Farley to return if he did get married. He said that Farley did return to the office after his marriage and that he was directed to fill out the necessary forms. Morrisett stated that Farley wanted to make a change of beneficiary on his Servicemen's Group Life Insurance Policy, but that his office was out of the proper forms. Morrisett sent Farley to the Judge Advocate General's office in order for them to prepare a form reflecting the change of beneficiary. Morrisett further testified that it was the Judge Advocate General's office that was responsible for seeing that the form was returned to his office so that they could make sure a copy was placed in Lt. Farley's official file in the Department of the Army. Morrisett did not see Farley again after he sent him to the legal office. Morrisett further testified that correspondence between offices was unreliable and that mail service was poor and that there were times when entire records in an office would be destroyed.

Sergeant Bill testified that he remembered a cavalry lieutenant coming into the Judge Advocate General's office to request aid in changing the beneficiary of his Servicemen's Group Life Insurance Policy. He could not identify Lt. Farley be name but stated that the cavalry officer was between five feet nine inches (5 9 ) and six feet (6 ) tall, and that he was light complexioned. He 'distinctly' remembered the incident because the lieutenant was a cavalry officer, and they were 'a unique organization. They wore their yellow scarves, their swords and everything else, swashbuckling . . . they dressed very distinctively. They liked to show off a little bit.' He stated that the lieutenant had just returned from Hawaii where he had been married. Bill testified that a form was prepared by the captain in the Judge Advocate's office, and that he was present when the lieutenant executed the change of beneficiary form designating his new wife as the beneficiary of his SGLI insurance. He remembered the incident because the request was unusual in that this task was normally performed by the Adjutant General's office. He said that the form was prepared after he verified that the Adjutant General's office was out of the proper forms. Bill testified that he remembered the event to have been before December 15, 1968, because after that date, he believed that the Adjutant General's office received the proper forms as no other soldiers came in for assistance in changing their beneficiaries. He stated that several other individuals came in for assistance prior to that date, but that the cavalry lieutenant was the only officer that he could recall who had come in for such assistance. Bill testified that he had to personally take charge of the change of beneficiary matter because his office had undergone an...