Franklin Life Ins. Co. v. Johnson

• Decision Date: 17 October 1946
• Docket Number: No. 3322.,3322.
• Parties: FRANKLIN LIFE INS. CO. v. JOHNSON et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

157 F.2d 653 (1946)

FRANKLIN LIFE INS. CO. v. JOHNSON et al.

No. 3322.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

September 20, 1946.

Rehearing Denied October 17, 1946.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Lowell White, of Denver, Colo. (White and Holland, of Denver, Colo., on the brief), for appellant.

Archibald A. Lee, of Denver, Colo. (Benjamin Griffith, of Denver, Colo., on the brief), for appellees.

Before PHILLIPS and MURRAH, Circuit Judges.

MURRAH, Circuit Judge.

The appellant, Franklin Life Insurance Company, brought this action for a declaration of its liability under an insurance contract issued on the life of Lawrence A. Johnson. The defendants are Cora L. Johnson, mother of the insured as the first named beneficiary, and his wife, Helen M. Johnson, as contingent beneficiary.

According to the complaint filed August 29, 1945, the policy of insurance in the face amount of $5,000 contains a supplemental agreement providing for double indemnity for accidental death resulting directly and independently of all other causes through external, violent and accidental means, but specifically exempts from its coverage death resulting either directly or indirectly from self-destruction, whether sane or insane, or from bodily or mental infirmity or illness or disease of any kind. The face amount of the policy is payable to defendant, Cora L. Johnson, at the rate of $50 per month during her lifetime, and upon her death the remaining payments are to be continued and paid to defendant, Helen M. Johnson. If accidental death benefits become payable under the double indemnity features of the contract, they are to be applied to increase the number but not the amount of the monthly payments provided in the policy.

The complaint alleged the death of the insured on August 19, 1940, as a result of self-inflicted gunshot wounds by reason of his insanity, a risk specifically exempt from the coverage of the accidental death benefit provisions in the policy, and for which the appellant is in no wise liable to either of the defendants; that the face amount of the policy is now being paid to the defendant, Cora L. Johnson, first named beneficiary, at the rate of $50.00 per month in accordance with the terms of the contract; that although the defendants claim to be entitled to the accidental death benefits, they cannot maintain an action therefor, because under the terms of the policy, they will not become due and payable for more than three years from and after the commencement of this action. That in the meantime, the plaintiff is required to maintain a trust fund or reserve for the payment of the claims if and when due; that an actual controversy exists between the parties involving the construction of the double indemnity features of the contract; and that a declaratory judgment is the appropriate remedy for determining the rights and liabilities thereunder. The prayer is for a declaration of non-liability under the accidental death benefit provisions of the policy, and for other appropriate relief.

On the authority of Brillhart v. Excess Ins. Co. of America, 316 U.S. 491, 62 S.Ct. 1173, 86 L.Ed. 1620, the trial court sustained a motion to dismiss the action on the grounds that a subsequent action filed in the District Court for the City and County of Denver by Cora L. Johnson against the Company presents identical issues, and that since the issues in both cases are governed by the law of the State of Colorado, it would be a "gratuitous interference" with the state court litigation to hear and decide the issues presented in this cause.

Undoubtedly, the trial court is vested with rather wide discretion in determining whether or not it will exercise existing jurisdiction in cases of this kind. Brillhart v. Excess Ins. Co. of America, supra; Guardian Life Ins. Co. v. Kortz, 10 Cir., 151 F.2d 582, and cases cited; Borchard, p. 312; 51 Yale Law Review, 511; Moore's Federal Practice, Vol. 3, p. 3203. But it is a judicial discretion, subject to review, and must be exercised in accordance with legal principles. Carbide & Carbon Chemicals Corporation v. United States Industrial Chemicals, 4 Cir., 140 F.2d 47; Larson v. General Motors Corporation, 2 Cir., 134 F.2d 450; Crosley Corporation v. Westinghouse Elec. & Mfg. Co., 3 Cir., 130 F.2d 474; Mutual Life Ins. Co. of New York v. Krejci, 7 Cir., 123 F.2d 594; Creamery Package Mfg. Co. v. Cherry-Burrell Corporation, 3 Cir., 115 F.2d 980; Samuel Goldwyn, Inc. v. United Artists Corporation, 3 Cir., 113 F.2d 703; ?tna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Quarles, 4 Cir., 92 F.2d 321.

While the area of discretion committed to the trial court is not marked by definite boundaries, it is controlled by practical considerations affecting the interrelation of courts exercising coordinate and concurrent jurisdiction. It is a general criterion that a court will not entertain jurisdiction in a declaratory action if the identical issues are involved in another pending proceedings. Brillhart v. Excess Ins. Co. of America, supra; McLain v. Lance, 5 Cir., 146 F.2d 341; Indemnity Ins. Co. v. Schriefer, 4 Cir., 142 F.2d 851; Carbide & Carbon Chemicals Corporation v. United States Industrial Chemicals, supra; Crosley Corporation v. Westinghouse Elec. & Mfg. Co., supra; Maryland Casualty Co. v. Boyle Const. Co. 4 Cir., 123 F.2d 558; ?tna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Quarles, supra; Western Electric Co. v. Hammond, 1 Cir., 135 F.2d 283. See also Annot. 135 A.L.R. 934 and 142 A.L.R. 8, 40. "Ordinarily it would be uneconomical as well as vexatious for a federal court to proceed in a declaratory judgment suit where another suit is pending in a state court presenting the same issues, not governed by federal law, between the same parties. Gratuitous interference with the orderly and comprehensive disposition of a state court litigation should be avoided." Brillhart v. Excess Ins. Co. of America, supra 316 U.S. 491, 62 S.Ct. 1175.

If the asserted cause of action sounds in equity, the judicial process is of course governed by equitable considerations, and the court may in the exercise of its equitable discretion, decline to decide the issues because it is in the interest of public justice to leave the parties to an adequate remedy in the state tribunals. Noteworthy examples of this salutary forbearance are found in diversity of citizenship cases, wherein the constitutionality of declared social and fiscal policies of a sovereign state is challenged in federal courts. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. v. Huffman, 319 U.S. 293, 63 S.Ct. 1070, 87 L.Ed. 1407; Alabama State Federation of Labor v. McAdory, 325 U.S. 450, 65 S.Ct. 1384, 89 L.Ed. 1725; City of Chicago v. Fieldcrest Dairies, 316 U.S. 168, 62 S.Ct. 986, 86 L.Ed. 1355; Railroad Commission of Texas v. Pullman Co., 312 U.S. 496, 61 S.Ct. 643, 85 L.Ed. 971.

But these safeguards against "procedural fencing" and races for res judicata (see Note 51 Yale Law Review, 511, 515) should not deter the courts from giving full force and effect to the purpose of the Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C.A. ß 400. "In the absence of some recognized public policy or defined principle guiding the exercise of the jurisdiction conferred, which would in exceptional cases warrant its non-exercise, it has from the first been deemed the duty of the federal courts, if their jurisdiction is properly invoked, to decide questions of state law whenever necessary to the rendition of a judgment." Meredith v. Winter Haven, 320 U.S. 228, 64 S.Ct. 7, 11, 88 L.Ed. 9. Rule 57 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c, expressly provides that "the existence of another adequate remedy does not preclude a judgment for declaratory relief in cases where it is appropriate." A declaratory action, if otherwise appropriate, should not be dismissed merely on the grounds that another remedy is available. Refusal to exercise jurisdiction when properly invoked must be prompted by reasons, which in the circumstances, seem to promote the administration of justice, not retard it. It is the duty of the court to first ascertain whether the questions in controversy between the parties to the federal suit can better be settled in the proceedings pending in the state court, i. e., whether there is such a plain, adequate and speedy remedy afforded in the pending state court action, that a declaratory judgment action will serve no useful purpose. Guardian Life Ins. Co. v. Kortz, supra; see also Brillhart v. Excess Ins. Co. of America, supra. "This may entail," said Mr. Justice Frankfurter in the Brillhart case, "inquiry into the scope of the pending state court proceeding and the nature of the defenses open there * * * whether the claims of all parties in interest can satisfactorily be adjudicated in that proceeding, whether necessary parties have been joined * * *." See also Borchard, p. 350 and 653.

With these guides before us, we look to the state court litigation to determine whether the controversy between the parties can better be settled there than in the declaratory action. The suit in the state court was commenced on November 7, 1945, more than two months after the commencement of the federal court proceedings, and after a motion to dismiss the complaint in the federal court had been overruled. The complaint alleges that although the benefits provided in the double indemnity clauses of the policy are not payable until 1950, the commencement of the declaratory judgment action by the Insurance Company constitutes a renunciation and repudiation of the contract, and by reason of this anticipatory breach, the plaintiff, as beneficiary under the policy, is entitled to recover the present value of the benefits provided therein, based upon her life expectancy, in the sum of $2,800. In the alternative, she prays for a declaratory judgment decreeing liability under the double indemnity provisions of the policy in...