John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Beardslee, 11097.
| Decision Date | 03 November 1954 |
| Docket Number | No. 11097.,11097. |
| Citation | 216 F.2d 457 |
| Parties | JOHN HANCOCK MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY v. Virginia BEARDSLEE. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Owen Rall, Richard V. Henry, Jr., Lewis E. Bulkeley, Jr., Eckert, Peterson & Lowry, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff-appellant.
Irving D. Levin, Irving M. Greenfield, Chicago, Ill., for appellee.
Before FINNEGAN, SWAIM and SCHNACKENBERG, Circuit Judges.
This action was started under 28 U.S. C.A. § 1335 by the plaintiff, John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company, a Massachusetts corporation, when, on October 8, 1952, it filed in the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois a bill of interpleader against the widow of Clarence Beardslee, Virginia Beardslee, a resident and citizen of Illinois, and against one Geraldine M. Farrell, a daughter of Clarence Beardslee, who was a resident and citizen of California. The plaintiff insurance company had, on November 26, 1943, issued to Clarence Beardslee an insurance policy by the terms of which the company agreed that upon due proof of Beardslee's death and the surrender of the policy it would pay $1,000 to the beneficiary. The beneficiary named in the policy at the time it was issued was Geraldine M. Trumbull, the daughter of the insured, whose name by a subsequent marriage became Geraldine M. Farrell. The beneficiary on this policy was changed back and forth several times between the daughter and the wife, but at the time of the death of the insured, on January 24, 1952, the beneficiary named in the policy was the wife, Virginia K. Beardslee.
The bill of interpleader recited that on the affidavit of the insured stating that the original policy had been lost, the company, on July 27, 1950, had issued a duplicate policy; that on January 24, 1952, the insured died; that on February 28, 1952, the company received at its home office a claim for the proceeds of the policy from the defendant Virginia Beardslee; and that on March 18, 1952, the plaintiff received a letter from the defendant Geraldine M. Farrell in which, according to the bill of interpleader, the defendant Farrell claimed "an interest in and to the proceeds of said Policy No. M-827317." A copy of this letter was attached to the complaint as Plaintiff's Exhibit 3.
The bill of interpleader also stated that the defendant Virginia Beardslee, on September 5, 1952, had commenced an action in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, to recover the proceeds of the policy from the insurance company. The bill of interpleader recited that at the time of the death of the insured the amount which became due on the policy was $847; that the company was then, and at all times since the furnishing of the proof of death of the insured had been, ready, willing and able to pay to the person legally entitled to receive same, the amount due under said policy, but that the company was a mere stakeholder between the two defendants, was ignorant of the respective rights of the defendants and could not determine without hazard to itself which one of the defendants was legally entitled to receive the proceeds of the policy. The plaintiff therefore prayed that the defendants be ordered to interplead and to settle between themselves which defendant was entitled to the insurance money; that the court issue an order enjoining and restraining the defendants and each of them, until the further order of the court, from instituting or prosecuting any petition, suit or proceeding against the plaintiff in any state court or in any other federal court on account of the policy of insurance on the life of Clarence Beardslee; and that upon final hearing, the said defendants be perpetually enjoined and restrained from prosecuting any suit or proceeding against the plaintiff on account of said insurance policy.
The defendant Virginia Beardslee filed an answer to the bill of interpleader in which she alleged that the defendant Geraldine M. Farrell did not have and was not entitled to any interest in the policy of insurance or in the proceeds of the policy, and did not assert any legal right, title or interest in and to the insurance policy or the proceeds thereof; and, therefore, denied that there were two or more adverse claimants to the proceeds of the insurance policy and stated that she, the defendant Beardslee, was the only bona fide and legal claimant to said funds. In this answer the defendant Beardslee also denied that the plaintiff had at any time since the furnishing of proof of death of the insured been willing to pay the proceeds due upon the insurance policy, and also denied that the plaintiff was a mere stakeholder having no interest in the controversy and ignorant of the respective rights of the defendants. The answer further denied that there was any legal doubt by the plaintiff as to the right of this defendant to the said funds or as to the nullity of the claim of the defendant Geraldine M. Farrell. In her answer to the bill of interpleader the defendant Virginia Beardslee also cited the Illinois statutes authorizing the collection by the beneficiary of interest and attorney's fees in a suit by an insured against an insurance company, the attorney's fees to be collected as costs of the suit, where the company had vexatiously refused to pay the insurance without reasonable cause.
On November 10, 1953, Geraldine M. Farrell, having failed to appear and defend in this action, was, on motion of the defendant Virginia Beardslee, found and adjudged to be in default.
A few days later the defendant Beardslee moved for a judgment on the pleadings, demanding judgment for the principal amount of $847; attorney's fees in the amount of $211.75, to be charged and taxed against the plaintiff as costs pursuant to Chapter 73, Paragraph 767, Section 155, of the Illinois Revised Statutes, Ill. State Bar Ass'n Edition 1953; and judgment for interest in the sum of $74.10, being interest on the principal sum from January 24, 1952, to and including October 24, 1953, at the rate of five per cent per annum. The motion also asked that an order be entered quashing and dissolving the injunction which enjoined her from proceeding with her action on the insurance policy then pending in the...
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