Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. v. Williams
| Decision Date | 27 February 1939 |
| Docket Number | 4-5383 |
| Citation | 125 S.W.2d 441,197 Ark. 883 |
| Parties | METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY v. WILLIAMS |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Appeal from Pulaski Circuit Court, Second Division; Lawrence C Auten, Judge; affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
Moore Burrow, & Chowning and W. S. Mitchell, Jr., for appellant.
Chas W. Garner, for appellee.
The appellee instituted this action against the appellant alleging in her complaint that Leroy Williams, now presumed to be dead, purchased from the appellant three policies of life insurance in which he insured his own life and named appellee as beneficiary; the numbers, dates and amounts of policies are set forth, and then appellee alleges that in September, 1923, while a bona fide resident of Pulaski county, Arkansas, the deceased disappeared, and has since that date absented himself beyond the limits of the state; that appellee has made diligent inquiry and search among his friends and people in Arkansas with whom he naturally would have communicated had he been alive; said inquiry and search being continuous in intensity since the date of his disappearance; that she has neither seen nor heard of him since his disappearance; that the premiums on said policies were one dollar per week and soon after insured's disappearance appellant's agents advised her to keep the premiums paid up and promised her that when the insured returned, her money would be refunded or else the benefit in the policies would be paid to her after she had paid premiums for five years; relying on this advice and promise, she paid the premiums to and including September 28, 1931, when she made a claim upon the appellant by completing forms sent by it which were accepted by it; her claim was denied; appellant stating that the insured was alive as late as May 6, 1931, but refused to inform appellee of insured's whereabouts; appellee, believing the statement that the insured was alive, discontinued payment on September 28, 1931; the statement of appellant that insured was alive on May 6, 1931, is untrue; appellant knew at the time it made it that it was untrue, and it was made for the purpose of misleading appellee, and did mislead her and caused her to discontinue payment of premiums or pressing her claim to a conclusion at that time; appellee has since made further diligent search and inquiry and believes, and therefore alleges, that the insured is deceased; appellee would have pressed her claim to conclusion when she formerly filed same but for the erroneous and fraudulent statement of appellant, its agents and servants; that she has only recently discovered the untruthfulness of said statement; said insurance was written on the endowment plan and had a legal reserve and cash surrender value sufficient to maintain the policy and it was appellant's duty to pay the premiums and thus keep the insurance in full force and effect so long as the reserves lasted; that is was appellant's duty to keep appellee truthfully and correctly advised of the whereabouts of insured and the amount of reserves, but it failed and refused to do so; she had repeatedly demanded payment, but her claims have all been refused by appellant; she then prayed judgment for $ 1,620, 12 per cent. penalty and a reasonable attorney's fee.
Appellant filed a general denial to the material allegations of this complaint. It, however, admitted the issuance of the three policies of insurance on the life of Leroy Williams, but alleged that the loss-payable clause provided that payments should be made to the executor or administrator of the insured's estate unless appellant elected to pay to another, and alleged that it has not so elected. The answer then sets out the numbers, dates and amounts of policies. An amended and substituted answer was filed alleging that the policies had lapsed for non-payment of premiums. It prayed that the suit be dismissed.
An amended and substituted complaint was filed alleging that a certain policy was $ 410 instead of $ 800. She alleged that insured was a bona fide resident of the state of Arkansas and that shortly after he disappeared the local agent and general agent, one of whom was named Mr. Roy, both residing in the city of Jonesboro, came to her home and persuaded her to keep the premiums paid up, and repeated the statement in her original complaint.
Appellee pleads as exhibits copies of communications received from the appellant, and prays for judgment in the sum of $ 820 plus 12 per cent. penalty and reasonable attorney's fee. She prayed in the alternative for judgment in the sum of $ 422 with interest at 6 per cent. per annum from October 19, 1931, until paid.
Appellant filed answer denying the allegations and pleading as in its original answer, and pleaded the statute of limitations as a bar to her cause of action.
Hattie Williams lived with her husband, Robert Williams, in Batesville, Mississippi. Robert Williams died in July, 1919. His brother, Leroy Williams, lived with Robert Williams, and after Robert Williams' death the appellee kept house and Leroy Williams was in and out just like he was when his brother was living. Appellee moved to Jonesboro in the fall of 1922, and in the spring of 1923, Leroy Williams lived with appellee just like he did in Mississippi. Leroy Williams bought policies of insurance on his life and made appellee beneficiary. The two policies were for $ 410 each, with weekly premiums. The first appellee knew about the insurance was when Leroy Williams left the money with her to pay Mr. Roy, the agent of the company. Leroy Williams paid the premiums on these policies until he left in the fall of 1923 or 1924. He said he was going to St. Louis, but appellee has never heard from him since and has made all efforts to find him. Wrote different friends in Jonesboro that knew him, wrote to Clarksville, Mississippi, where he said he was raised, and kept on looking around; she had friends she wrote to every week and asked them to let her know about Leroy Williams; she wanted to know whether he was living or not; she did not pay anything on the policies for three or four weeks after he had gone; Mr. Roy, who was collecting insurance, asked appellee to keep the policies up, but it was not until after he and the superintendent came out and persuaded her; they both told her that if she kept the insurance up for a period of seven years and Leroy did not come back, the company would pay her the face value of the policies. She then paid on the policies, which were behind, and continued to pay until sometime in September, 1931. In the fall of 1930 or 1931 she talked to the agent in Little Rock and he brought two blanks out which she signed at his request; she thought he knew what he was doing; she made claims for the proceeds of the insurance in 1930 or 1931; they did not pay her and the manager, or assistant manager from the home office, told her he knew Leroy's whereabouts, but that he did not want appellee to know; she later got a letter from the home office on October 14, 1931. The following letter was introduced:
Appellee testified that she received another letter from the home office dated August 26, 1931, and this letter was introduced as follows:
Please be assured of our wish to be of every possible service to you.
Both of these letters were from the home office in New York and were written on the company's stationery. Appellee relied on these statements and continued her search for Leroy and found a man they called Fats Williams that the company had communicated with, and he was supposed to be Leroy. Appellee talked to the agent of the company about this in 1933 or 1934, and he said he did not know who this man was, but he would find out. Appellee got acquainted with Leroy Williams in Mississippi; he was then about 18 or 19 years old and he was 22 or 23 when the insurance was written; he gave appellee three policies and asked her to keep them because he wanted to leave something so witness could bury him if anything happened to him; he paid the first premiums himself appellee's name does not appear on any of the policies. The agent told her that they did not put the name of beneficiaries on Metropolitan policies any more. Leroy Williams was staying with witness in Jonesboro when he took out the policies; he would come and stay two or three weeks or a month and go out on Saturday where they had pay day at different mills like all gamblers; he did not work any place only when he had to; then he worked at sawmills and...
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