Ross v. International Life Ins. Co.
| Decision Date | 09 February 1928 |
| Docket Number | No. 4954.,4954. |
| Citation | 24 F.2d 345 |
| Parties | ROSS et al. v. INTERNATIONAL LIFE INS. CO. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
John A. Pitts, of Nashville, Tenn. (Pitts, McConnico & Hatcher, of Nashville, Tenn., E. W. Ross, of Savannah, Tenn., and W. G. Timberlake, of Jackson, Tenn., on the brief), for appellants.
John M. Atkinson, of St. Louis, Mo., for appellee.
Before DENISON, MOORMAN, and KNAPPEN, Circuit Judges.
Appellee filed a bill of interpleader in a cause in which it was plaintiff and Thomas B. Carroll, James L. Lamping, and S. S. McConnell were defendants. The bill sought to require the defendants thereto, consisting of various claimants to the proceeds of an insurance policy to interplead with each other and with the original defendants to determine who was entitled to the proceeds of the policy. From an order granting this relief, and enjoining the prosecution of a suit in the chancery court of Davidson county, Tennessee, as well as other suits brought against appellee in the state courts, Sara Ross, individually and as executrix of John W. Ross, deceased, and the five infant children of Sara and John W. Ross, have appealed.
The original suit sought a cancellation of the policy upon the several grounds of fraudulent representations in procuring it, want of insurable interest of the beneficiaries named therein in the life of the insured, and suicide of the insured, terminating the policy under its express terms. The defendants therein (the beneficiaries named in the policy and their assignee) contested these several claims, and by cross-bill asserted their ownership of and the plaintiff's liability to them under the policy. A judgment in that cause was affirmed on appeal to this court. International Life Ins. Co. v. Carroll (C. C. A.) 17 F.(2d) 42, 50 A. L. R. 362. While the appeal was pending, these appellants filed the suit in Davidson county, asking that the insurance company be required to pay the policy into court, and that they be adjudged the proceeds thereof as against Carroll and Lamping. Three other suits were filed in state courts against Lamping and Carroll, in which garnishments were issued against the insurance company, and still another suit, in the nature of a general creditors' suit, was filed against the same defendants, seeking to require the payment of the policy into the chancery court of Decatur county. No steps were taken in any of these cases pending the appeal from the judgment of the District Court. Upon the affirmance of that judgment by this court, the insurance company paid the policy into the registry of the District Court and filed the bill asking for the order appealed from.
The decree that was affirmed had adjudged that the defendants recover of the insurance company the face value of the policy; that the attorneys representing the defendants be allowed a reasonable fee for their services; that the proceeds of the policy, with interest, be paid "into the registry of the court subject to the future orders of the court in this cause"; that the respective rights of defendants in and to "said recovery as between themselves is not adjudged by the court but is expressly reserved"; and that "all matters not expressly adjudicated are reserved for future determination, and the court does hereby retain jurisdiction of the premises for the entry of such further orders as it may deem fit and proper."
The questions argued before us relate more or less to this decree, as it affected or fixed the rights of Lamping, Carroll, and McConnell in the proceeds of the policy — whether it was interlocutory or final. A decree, to be final, must terminate the litigation on its merits, so that there is nothing left for the court to do but to execute the decree already rendered. Bostwick v....
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...provision of the interpleader statute. See Dugas v. American Surety Co., supra, 300 U.S. 428-429, 57 S.Ct. 521; Ross v. International Life Ins. Co., 6 Cir., 24 F.2d 345, 346; National Fire Ins. Co. v. Sanders, supra, 215. The only contrary ruling is Lowther v. New York Life Ins. Co., 3 Cir.......
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