Sharpless v. Grand Lodge of Ancient Order of United Workmen
| Decision Date | 01 December 1916 |
| Docket Number | 19,966 - (106) |
| Citation | 159 N.W. 1086,135 Minn. 35 |
| Parties | LEWIS SHARPLESS v. GRAND LODGE OF ANCIENT ORDER OF UNITED WORKMEN |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Action in the district court for Hennepin county to recover $2,000 upon defendant's policy of life insurance. From an order Hale, J., sustaining plaintiff's demurrer to the amended answer of defendant grand lodge, that defendant appealed. Affirmed.
Life insurance -- insurer liable when insured is murdered by beneficiary.
1. Though by murdering the insured the beneficiary forfeits the right to the proceeds of the policy, such murder does not absolve the insurer from liability to others.
Life insurance -- recovery by heir.
2. In such case the sole heir of the deceased, who would take upon the death of an eligible beneficiary, may recover.
William B. Anderson, for appellant.
Mathias Baldwin, for respondent.
The plaintiff Lewis Sharpless brings this action to recover upon a policy of insurance on the life of Leaming Sharpless, issued by the defendant Grand Lodge A.O.U.W. Charlotta A. Sharpless was named as beneficiary. She is a defendant. The Grand Lodge answers separately. The plaintiff demurred. The appeal is from the order sustaining the demurrer.
The pertinent facts appearing from the complaint are these: On March 6, 1905, the policy or benefit certificate was issued on the life of Leaming Sharpless. The beneficiary, Charlotta A. Sharpless, his wife, murdered him on November 14, 1914. By murdering him she forfeited the right to take as beneficiary. The plaintiff is the brother and only heir of the deceased except Mrs. Sharpless. These facts are admitted by the defendant order. It alleges that by its constitution a member has no right in the beneficiary fund except to designate a beneficiary; that when a member dies without having designated an eligible beneficiary the certificate is void; that if an eligible beneficiary dies before the member, and he dies without designating another, the proceeds shall be paid first to the widow, then to the children, then to the father and mother or the survivor of them, then to brothers and sisters, and, all failing, there is a reversion to the beneficiary fund, and it claims that the murder of the insured by the beneficiary absolves it from liability on the certificate.
Two questions are presented:
(1) Does the murder of the insured by the beneficiary absolve the insurer from liability, conceding that the right of the beneficiary is forfeited?
(2) If it does not, can the sole heir of the insured, who would take upon the death of an eligible beneficiary, recover?
1. An insurance company is not absolved from liability on a policy because the beneficiary murders the insured. Cleaver v Mutual Reserve Fund Life Assn. [1892] 1 Q.B. 147; Schmidt v. Northern Life Assn. 112 Iowa 41, 83 N.W. 800, 51 L.R.A. 141, 84 Am. St. 323; Supreme Lodge K. & L. of Honor v. Menkhausen, 209 Ill. 277, 70 N.E. 567, 65 L.R.A. 508, 101 Am. St. 239. The contract of insurance makes no exception in such case and no statute affects liability. The public policy which refuses a recovery for the benefit of the murderer does not prevent a recovery for the...
To continue reading
Request your trial