Prudential Ins. Co. of America v. Boyd, s. 84-5973
| Citation | 781 F.2d 1494 |
| Decision Date | 10 February 1986 |
| Docket Number | 85-5251,Nos. 84-5973,s. 84-5973 |
| Parties | PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA and Eastern Airlines, Inc., Plaintiffs, v. Bettie BOYD, Defendant-Appellant, Clarice D. Boyd as the Natural Mother and Guardian of Danita Boyd and Daniel Boyd, III, as minors, Defendants-Appellees. PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA and Eastern Airlines, Inc., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Bettie BOYD, Defendant-Appellant, Clarice D. Boyd as the Natural Mother and Guardian of Danita Boyd and Daniel Boyd, III, as minors, Defendants. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (11th Circuit) |
J.T. Hollin, Atlanta, Ga., for Bettie Boyd.
Leon Sharpe, Miami, Fla., for Clarice D. Boyd.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Before JOHNSON and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges, and DYER, Senior Circuit Judge.
Daniel Boyd, Jr., was married to appellee Clarice Boyd until 1975. Two children were born of this marriage. The marriage ended in divorce by decree issued by a state court on June 4, 1975. Paragraph five of the divorce decree provided as follows:
Respondent-Counter-Petitioner shall arrange with the carrier of his existing life insurance protection for designation of the aforesaid minor children as irrevocable beneficiaries of such policy evidencing said protection; and he shall also be liable for, and pay, unusual medical, dental or orthodontal expenses of said minor children.
On the date of his divorce from Clarice Boyd, Daniel Boyd was employed by plaintiff Eastern Airlines ("Eastern") and was covered by a group term life insurance policy issued by plaintiff Prudential Insurance Company ("Prudential"). On the date of the divorce, the maximum recovery under this policy would have been approximately $32,000.
After his divorce, on September 6, 1975, Daniel Boyd married appellant Bettie Boyd. Contrary to the terms of the divorce decree, Daniel Boyd failed to designate his children by his first marriage as irrevocable beneficiaries of his life insurance policy. Two weeks after the second marriage, Daniel Boyd named his new wife as the beneficiary of the policy. Continuing until his death, Daniel Boyd made contributory payments, i.e., voluntary premium payments from his own salary, which effectively doubled the minimum amount of term life insurance available to the named beneficiary.
Daniel Boyd, Jr., died on April 26, 1983. At the time of Daniel Boyd's death, the beneficiary of his term life insurance policy was eligible to receive the sum of $63,261.60.
On May 18, 1983, on behalf of her minor children, Clarice Boyd as the natural mother and guardian of the children sought to claim the insurance benefits from Prudential. On June 7, 1983, Bettie Boyd sought to claim those same benefits. Faced with these conflicting claims, plaintiffs Prudential and Eastern filed a Bill for Interpleader in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida pursuant to 28 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1335, seeking a declaratory judgment stating who was entitled to the proceeds from Daniel Boyd's insurance policy. The plaintiffs paid into the registry of the court the sum of $63,261.60, which was the value of the policy. The defendants in this action were appellant and appellees.
Bettie Boyd filed a motion for partial summary judgment on July 17, 1984, and a motion for expedited ruling on July 26, 1984. Clarice Boyd filed a motion for partial summary judgment on July 27, 1984, and a motion for expedited ruling on August 20, 1984. The district judge granted both motions for expedited ruling, granted the motion of Clarice Boyd for partial summary judgment, and denied the motion of Bettie Boyd for the same.
Bettie Boyd filed a motion for reconsideration and a motion for clarification of the order granting partial summary judgment. These motions were denied. Bettie Boyd filed a first notice of appeal, which appeal was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Subsequently, Clarice Boyd filed a motion for entry of final summary judgment and for disbursement of funds; Bettie Boyd filed motions for supersedeas and for stay of execution of judgment. By order of October 19, 1984, the district judge granted final summary judgment for Clarice Boyd.
On November 16, 1984, the judge issued an order entering final judgment for Clarice Boyd, denying Bettie Boyd's motions for supersedeas and for stay of execution, and granting Clarice Boyd's motion for disbursement of funds. Bettie Boyd filed a second notice of appeal and renewed her motions for stay and supersedeas. On January 14, 1985, the district judge ordered the disbursement of $63,261.60 plus interest and declared that Bettie Boyd's motions for stay and supersedeas were moot.
Plaintiffs moved to tax costs and attorneys' fees against the defendants. By order of February 28, 1985, the court directed that Prudential and Eastern recover a total of $971.25 in attorneys' fees, and $69.74 in costs, from Bettie Boyd. She then filed a third notice of appeal, appealing the order awarding attorneys' fees and costs against her. All appeals were consolidated into this action.
Appellant contends that paragraph 5 of the divorce decree (quoted above) was ambiguous, primarily because the paragraph did not state the specific life insurance policy, or the amount of coverage, that was to be subject to the order. Appellant also argues that the requirement that Daniel Boyd name his children "irrevocable beneficiaries" of his "existing life insurance protection" was vague. Appellant claims that the intent of the divorce court judge and of the parties to the divorce was not clear, and that the intent is a matter that should be determined by the trier of fact.
The divorce decree required Daniel Boyd to name his children as irrevocable beneficiaries of his "existing life insurance protection." No evidence was introduced to controvert the fact that Daniel Boyd was legally bound by this requirement. Florida courts have consistently construed provisions similar to this one to require the insured to name the person so designated by the divorce decree to be the beneficiary of the life insurance policy, and to nullify attempts to name another person as beneficiary. See, e.g., Pensyl v. Moore, 415 So.2d 771 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1982); Dixon v. Dixon 184 So.2d 478 (Fla. 2d DCA 1966), cert. discharged, 194 So.2d 897 (Fla.1967).
Appellant argues that, because Daniel Boyd might have had life insurance coverage other than the Prudential policy, the Prudential policy is not necessarily covered by the divorce decree. This argument is completely meritless. The existence of other life insurance is irrelevant to whether the Prudential policy was subject to the divorce decree. If other life insurance coverage existed at the time of the divorce, then that insurance as well as the Prudential policy was subject to the requirement that Daniel Boyd's children by his first marriage be named as beneficiaries. The district court correctly ruled that Daniel Boyd was legally bound to name the children by his first marriage to be the beneficiaries of the Prudential life insurance policy that...
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