Haneline v. Turner White Casket Co.

• Decision Date: 12 June 1953
• Docket Number: No. 744,744
• Citation: 238 N.C. 127,76 S.E.2d 372
• Parties: HANELINE, v. TURNER WHITE CASKET CO., Inc et al.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 372

76 S.E.2d 372

238 N.C. 127

HANELINE, v. TURNER WHITE CASKET CO., Inc et al.

No. 744

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

June 12, 1953

C. B. Poindexter and J. J. Harris, Winston-Salem, for plaintiff-appellant.

Womble, Carlyle, Martin & Sandridge, Winston-Salem, for defendants-appellees.

DEVIN, Chief Justice.

The certificate of life insurance issued to Charles R. Haneline, employee, under the group insurance policy issued by defendant Insurance Company covering the employees of defendant Casket Company, employer, contains this provision: 'This insurance shall terminate whenever the employee shall leave the service of said employer. ' The group insurance policy issued to the Casket Company provided: 'The insurance of any employee covered hereunder shall terminate at the end of the policy month in which his active employment with the employer shall end.'

According to the statement of facts the defendant Insurance Company had issued to Charles R. Haneline, employee of defendant Casket Company, December 10, 1950, certificate of insurance under the master policy to his employer, and under agreement between employer and employee the Casket Company deducted from the wages of Haneline each quarter his share of the premiums on his certificate of insurance in the sum of $3.75, and remitted it to the Insurance Company. Under this arrangement the Casket Company on March 21, 1951, deducted from his wages $3.75. March 27 Charles R. Haneline was discharged by the Casket Company and his employment terminated on that date, and on March 31 the Insurance Company was notified of this action and the certificate issued to the employee was cancelled as of that date.

After the termination of his employment Charles R. Haneline made no application or request for conversion or for any other benefit under the policy. Charles R. Haneline died May 16, 1951.

According to the terms of the policy the insurance of Haneline, upon his discharge by the Casket Company, terminated at the end of the policy month in which his active employment terminated. As the policy month began March 10 the insurance thereunder terminated on his discharge at the end of that month, April 10. However, the amount of premium deducted from his wages had been computed for the entire quarter ending June 10. Hence it would seem there was an unearned portion of the premium, amounting to $2.50, which the defendant Insurance Company in its answer offers to return to the plaintiff.

The plaintiff's position is that since the Casket Company, the employer, deducted from the wages of the decedent an amount sufficient to pay the premium to June 10, 1951, and as no refund was made at the time of his discharge his beneficiary is now entitled to recover the full amount of the policy. The plaintiff relies on what was said by this Court in Hicks v. Home Security Life Insurance Company, 226 N. C. 614, 39 S.E.2d 914. But we do not think the principle stated in that case is applicable to the facts in the case at bar. In the Hicks case the Insurance Company resisted payment on the ground that it was provided in the policy that the policy should be void if there was in force another policy on the life of insured issued by the same company unless the number of the prior policy was endorsed on the policy with a waiver signed by the company. It was thought that as the...