Pence v. Mutual Ben. Life Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 17 April 1913
• Citation: 61 So. 817,180 Ala. 583
• Parties: PENCE v. MUTUAL BENEFIT LIFE INS. CO.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

61 So. 817

180 Ala. 583

PENCE v. MUTUAL BENEFIT LIFE INS. CO.

Supreme Court of Alabama

April 17, 1913

Appeal from Law and Equity Court, Marengo County; Edward J. Gilder Judge.

Action by Eliza A. Pence against the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company.From a judgment for defendant, plaintiff appeals.Affirmed.

J.M Miller, of Linden, for appellant.

John R Tyson, of Montgomery, and William Cunninghame, of Linden, for appellee.

ANDERSON J.

Form 12, p. 1196, of the Code of 1907, provides, among other things, that, in actions upon a policy of life insurance, the plaintiff should aver the term of the policy or the period covered by same.In other words, the complaint should aver that the policy covered the life of the insured or a certain number of years, so as to show that it included the date of the insured's death.Count 2 of the present complaint while averring that the defendant insured the life of Chas. C. Pence, does not show that the said policy was for the term of his natural life, or that it covered any fixed or definite number of years.From aught that appears the defendant may have insured the life of said Chas. C. Pence for a period which expired before his death.This count is not only not in Code form, but is identical with the one held bad in the case of United States Co. v. Veitch,161 Ala. 630, 50 So. 95.Nor does it conform to count 3, which was held to come up to the Code form in the case of Patterson v. Grand Lodge of K. of P.,162 Ala. 430, 50 So. 377.

Count 3 is little better than count 2 and does not conform to form No. 12.It does say that the...