Wallace v. American Life Ins. Co. of Des Moines, Iowa

• Court: Oregon Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: BROWN, J.
• Citation: Wallace v. American Life Ins. Co. of Des Moines, Iowa, 111 Or. 510, 227 P. 465 (Or. 1924)
• Decision Date: 08 July 1924
• Parties: WALLACE v. AMERICAN LIFE INS. CO. OF DES MOINES, IOWA.

227 P. 465

111 Or. 510

WALLACE v. AMERICAN LIFE INS. CO. OF DES MOINES, IOWA.

Supreme Court of Oregon

July 8, 1924

Department 2.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Multnomah County; George Rossman, Judge.

Action by Lew Wallace against the American Life Insurance Company of Des Moines, Iowa. On petition for further opinion.

For former opinion, see 225 P. 192.

Joseph, Haney & Littlefield and Guy C. H. Corliss all of Portland, for appellant.

J. M Scudder, J. Hunt Hendrickson, Coy Burnett, and W. D. Burnett all of Portland, for respondent.

BROWN J.

The defendant and appellant in this case has petitioned the court to pass upon a point raised upon the trial and argued in the brief, for the averred reason that if this particular point should be decided in favor of the appellant, it would terminate the action. Defendant also asserts that it is to the great advantage of plaintiff to have the point settled "for it would indeed be very unfortunate for the plaintiff if, after another trial, on the second appeal this court should hold that there had been no breach of the contract and that plaintiff therefore was not entitled to recover."

When this case was before us, we considered the point made by defendant in its appeal; and, had there been a lack of evidence to take to the jury the question of the breaching of the contract by defendant on May 18, 1921, as alleged, we should have terminated the case at that point instead of reversing it on other grounds.

On November 19, 1915, the plaintiff and defendant entered into a life insurance agency contract whereby the plaintiff was appointed general agent for defendant for the state of Oregon. The contract involved the undertaking of establishing a new company in a well-occupied field, and, for the labor which this required, provided adequate consideration.

That the plaintiff entered upon the execution of his contract and secured a large amount of business for defendant within the state of Oregon, and that he expended a large sum of money in establishing his agency within this state, there is no question For a detailed statement of the facts, see opinion of this court rendered April 15, 1924, and reported in 225 P. 192.

The plaintiff averred that at Des Moines, Iowa, on May 18, 1921 the defendant breached its contract with him. It appears that prior to this time the controlling interest in the defendant company was acquired by one C. L. Ayers, president of the Northern Assurance Company, by the purchase of the stock of the defendant company for himself and a syndicate. After securing control of the American Life Insurance Company of Des Moines, Iowa, Ayers, with a view of consolidating the two companies, attempted to change the form of policy to be written by the Iowa company in the future, and the rate of premium thereon, and, likewise, attempted to secure new contracts with the general agents. To this end, a call was issued to the general and prospective...