Pan-American Life Ins. Co. v. Recio
| Decision Date | 07 May 1963 |
| Docket Number | PAN-AMERICAN,No. 62-452,62-452 |
| Citation | 154 So.2d 197 |
| Parties | LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. Agustin Goytisolo RECIO, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Dixon, DeJarnette, Bradford, Williams, McKay & Kimbrell, Miami, for appellant.
Carey, Goodman, Terry, Dwyer & Austin and Joseph A. McGowan, Miami, for appellee.
Before PEARSON, TILLMAN, C. J., and CARROLL and BARKDULL, JJ.
The defendant-insurance company appeals a summary final decree for plaintiff-policyholder in an action for declaratory decree. The complaint sought a declaration that the policyholder was entitled to the cash-surrender value of the insurance policy. We affirm.
The complaint of the policyholder made a copy of the insurance policy an exhibit. It appears without conflict that the defendant, Pan-American Life Insurance Company, is a corporation under the laws of the State of Louisiana, having its principal office in New Orleans, Louisiana. The policy provides for payment thereunder in United States dollars in New Orleans, Louisiana. The defendant-insurance company answered alleging that the acts of the Cuban Government in seizing its assets located in Cuba excused it from further performance under the contract of insurance sued upon. The court granted a summary decree for the plaintiff.
It is the general rule that unless a contrary intention is expressed in the contract, matters connected with the performance are regulated by the law prevailing at the place of performance. Scudder v. Union National Bank of Chicago, 91 U.S. 406, 23 L.Ed. 245 (1875); Brown v. Ford Motor Co., 48 F.2d 732 (10th Cir.1931); Repsold v. New York Life Ins. Co., 216 Fo.2d 479 (7th Cir.1954); see also Restatement, Conflict of Laws § 358 (1934).
Clearly then, a contract of a United States corporation payable in the United States in United States dollars cannot be governed by Cuban laws as to the method of performance.
This Court has recently had occasion to make exhaustive inquiry into problems similar to those presented in this appeal. See Confederation Life Ass'n v. Ugalde, Fla.App.1963, 151 So.2d 315. Under the law set forth in that opinion, the fact that the contract involved in the instant appeal is to be paid in the United States is determinative of the issue of whether the law of this country governs the method of performance.
The additional factor which is present in this case is the contention of the insurance company that the acts of the Cuban Government in seizing the Company's assets located in Cuba excused the Company from further performance under the contract sued upon. In its answer the defendant-appellant pleaded as one of its defenses that in July of 1960, the Republic of Cuba enacted Law No. 851 which authorized the issuance of resolutions of expropriation, and pursuant thereto, on October 24, 1960, Resolution No. 3 was promulgated, expropriating the Cuban assets of the Pan American Life Insurance Company and substituting the Cuban state as the obligor on existing policies.
After the filing of the answer, the plaintiff moved for a summary final decree. In opposition to the motion, the defendant submitted two affidavits, one of Dr. Fernando C. Mendigutia, a Cuban lawyer now resident in Miami, the other of Mr. J. V. Bird, formerly the general manager and agent for Pan American Life Insurance Company in Cuba. In that portion of Dr. Mendigutia's affidavit which is relevant to the defense now discussed, he sets forth his opinion that Law No. 851 of July, 1960, authorized the issuance of decrees of expropriation and nationalization, and that pursuant thereto on October 24, 1960, Resolution No. 3 was signed which expropriated the Cuban assets of Pan American, substituting the Cuban state as the obligor on the Company's Cuban policies including the policy in this suit. Mr. Bird's affidavit sets forth that on October 26, 1960, he delivered all of Pan American's assets...
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...Florida residents required performance in Florida followed the decision of a District Court of Appeal of Florida (Pan-American Life Ins. Co. v. Recio, 154 So.2d 197 (1963), certiorari denied 377 U.S. 990, 84 S.Ct. 1908, 12 L.Ed.2d 1044 (1963), which held that the place of performance of the......
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