Goodwin v. Cont'l Cas. Co.

• Decision Date: 10 December 1935
• Docket Number: Case Number: 25757
• Parties: GOODWIN, Adm'r. v. CONTINENTAL CASUALTY CO.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

1935 OK 1183

53 P.2d 241

175 Okla. 469

GOODWIN, Adm'r. v. CONTINENTAL CASUALTY CO.

Case Number: 25757

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

Decided: December 10, 1935

Syllabus

¶0 1. Insurance--Beneficiary in Policy Barred From Collecting Proceeds by Feloniously Causing Death of Insured.

A beneficiary in a policy of life insurance who feloniously takes or causes to be taken the life of the assured, is thereby barred from collecting the insurance money.

2. Same--Record of Beneficiary's Conviction for Homicide Inadmissible in Action on Policy to Establish Facts on Which Conviction Was Based.

Ordinarily, in an action on a life insurance policy, the record of the beneficiary's conviction for having unlawfully taken the life of the assured cannot be received in evidence to establish the facts upon which said conviction was based, and section 1616. O. S. 1931, does not alter or change the rule as applied to such actions.

3. Trial--Effect of Demurrer to Plaintiff's Evidence.

A demurrer to the plaintiff's evidence admits, for the purposes of the demurrer, all facts which the evidence in the slightest degree tends to prove, together with all inferences and conclusions logically and reasonably to be drawn therefrom.

Appeal from Court of Common Pleas, Tulsa County: Wm. N. Randolph, Judge.

Action by B. W. Goodwin, administrator of the estate of Cecil Goodwin, deceased, against the Continental Casualty Company. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Reversed and remanded, with directions.

W. H. Gilliam, for plaintiff in error.

M. C. Rodolf and J. B. Houston, for defendant in error.

GIBSON, J.

¶1 This cause originated in the court of common pleas of Tulsa county and comes here upon the alleged errors of the trial court in sustaining objections to certain evidence offered on the part of plaintiff and error in sustaining defendant's demurrer to plaintiff's evidence.

¶2 Plaintiff is the administrator of the estate of Cecil Goodwin, deceased, and the suit is upon an insurance policy issued by defendant on the life of the said Cecil Goodwin. One Carrie Lee Goodwin was the named beneficiary. The principal allegation in the petition pertinent to this appeal is as follows: "The said Cecil Goodwin was accidentally killed, to wit: Murdered; that thereafter the said Carrie Lee Goodwin heretofore mentioned was informed against, tried and convicted of the murder of Cecil Goodwin, and is now incarcerated and serving a term in the state penitentiary of the state of Oklahoma for said crime."

¶3 For the purpose of establishing the allegations of his petition that the beneficiary feloniously killed the assured and was duly convicted of the crime, plaintiff made proffer of the following evidence:

"Comes now the plaintiff and offers in evidence the docket of the district court of Tulsa county, state of Oklahoma, in case No. 5166, Criminal, being the State of Oklahoma v. Carrie Lee Goodwin, murder, and the files showing her subsequent conviction for manslaughter, and her incarceration in the state penitentiary at McAlester, Okla., for the crime of manslaughter, wherein the information shows that she was accused of inflicting the mortal wound upon the body of Cecil M. Goodwin, her husband, from which said mortal wound, inflicted by the said Carrie Lee Goodwin, the said Cecil M. Goodwin instantly died, the same being on the 15th day of August, 1930."

¶4 The court sustained objection to this offer and thereafter sustained defendant's demurrer to the evidence.

¶5 Plaintiff says that section 1616, O. S. 1931, is his authority for introducing the evidence. offered. That section is as follows:

"No person who is convicted of having taken, or causes or procures another so to take, the life of another, shall inherit from such person, or receive any interest in the estate of the decedent, or take by devise or legacy, or descent or distribution, from him, or her, any portion of his. or her, estate: and no beneficiary of any policy of insurance or certificate of membership issued by any benevolent association or organization, payable upon the death or disability of any person, who in like manner takes or causes or procures to be taken, the life upon which such policy or certificate is issued, or who causes or procures a disability of such person shall take the proceeds of such policy or certificate. * * *"

¶6 It may be conceded that a beneficiary in a policy of life insurance who feloniously takes or causes to be taken the life of the assured is thereby barred from collecting the insurance money: and that such rule applies in the absence of statute and is based upon public policy. Equitable Life Assurance Soc. v. Weightman. 61 Okla. 106, 160 P. 629. In the absence of statute to the contrary. or provision in the policy, a resulting trust arises by operation of law under which the rights of the beneficiary are vested in the estate of the assured. Id.

¶7 As a general rule a judgment of conviction or acquittal of a party charged with crime cannot be given in evidence in a civil action to prove or negative facts upon which it was rendered. This rule is supported by great weight of authority based upon various reasons, such as dissimilarity of the object of the actions, issues, procedure, and parties to the actions. 31 A. L. R. 262-264. We approve the rule as sound in principle, and hold that the same should apply to the facts in this case, unless it may be said that the statute (sec. 1616, supra) is sufficient to authorize the introduction of the beneficiary's conviction to establish the facts upon which such conviction was based.

¶8 The statute in question does not provide that a beneficiary who is convicted of having taken the life of the assured may not take the proceeds of the policy; it provides that "no beneficiary * * * who in like manner takes or causes or procures to be taken," the life of the assured. The section does not modify or change the rule of evidence as to proof of cause of death. It does not provide that a conviction of the beneficiary...