Williams v. McFerrin

• Decision Date: 03 April 1957
• Docket Number: No. 16128.,16128.
• Citation: 242 F.2d 53
• Parties: Mary WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. Emma G. McFERRIN, Guardian of Assured's Minor Son, Donald Joseph McFerrin, et al., Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

242 F.2d 53 (1957)

Mary WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. Emma G. McFERRIN, Guardian of Assured's Minor Son, Donald Joseph McFerrin, et al., Appellees.

No. 16128.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

February 21, 1957.

Rehearing Denied April 3, 1957.

Dean A. Andrews, Jr., New Orleans, La., for appellant.

Nolan Kammer, Thomas B. Wheeler, New Orleans, La., Chaffe, McCall, Phillips, Burke & Hopkins, New Orleans, La., of counsel, for appellee.

Before RIVES, TUTTLE and JOHN R. BROWN, Circuit Judges.

TUTTLE, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the court without a jury in an interpleader suit brought by the appellee insurance company against the appellant, the named beneficiary of two insurance policies, and against the other appellee individually and as guardian of the minor son of the assured; judgment was entered against the appellant on the ground that she had failed to file her claim within the period provided for in the policy or within a reasonable time after she learned of assured's death.

The Prudential Life Insurance Company of America in 1944 and 1945, in Indiana, issued two $500 policies to Mr. Emmett McFerrin, Jr., the original named beneficiary being his mother, Mrs. Emma G. McFerrin. After assured's marriage the policies were endorsed to show his wife as beneficiary. Upon her death their child, Donald Joseph McFerrin, was taken to live with her mother, Mrs. Mary Williams, the appellant, and at that time the policies were once more endorsed to show the latter as beneficiary.¹

Sometime later the assured took his child from his mother-in-law's home in New Orleans and returned to his mother's home in Indiana, where he was staying with the child at the time of his death on August 30, 1952. No further changes were recorded on the policies. Mrs. McFerrin was appointed guardian of her grandson, assured's son, by the Indiana courts.

The policies in suit provide that if the beneficiary does not make a claim within sixty days after the death of the assured the insurer may make payment of the proceeds to the assured's executor or administrator or to "any of the Insured's relatives by blood or marriage appearing to the Company to be equitably entitled thereto."

On September 24, 1952, Mrs. McFerrin filed a claim with the company for the proceeds of the policies, evidently believing that she was still or again the named beneficiary. This claim was declined by the company.

On October 27th, 58 days after the assured's death, Mrs. McFerrin informed Mrs. Williams of the event, by means of a letter which reached the appellant a day or so later. Thereupon appellant requested claim forms from the company and obtained proof of death from Indiana, and then filed the claim form with the company on December 4, 1952, 95 days after the death and 36 or 37 days after she received notice of it. This claim too was declined by the company on several grounds; principal among which was the delay in filing beyond the 60 day limit permitted by the policies.

Both claimants thereupon filed separate suits against the company in their respective state courts, whereupon the company brought this interpleader action in the federal district court for the Eastern District of Louisiana under the provisions of 28 U.S.C.A. § 1335. Both claimants answered, Mrs. McFerrin claiming both in her individual capacity and as guardian of the assured's minor son. The district court dismissed the individual claims of both assured's mother and mother-in-law, that of the former because she was no longer a named beneficiary, and that of the latter for failure to file a claim within a reasonable time of receiving notice of death, as required by Indiana case law for policies providing for filing within a limited time period if the beneficiary remains ignorant of the event for some time, and awarded the proceeds to Mrs. McFerrin as guardian of Donald Joseph McFerrin.²

The district court correctly stated, and appellant does not dispute, that under Louisiana conflict of laws principles, applicable since interpleader comes under the diversity jurisdiction of the federal courts,³ Indiana law must be applied to determine rights under an insurance policy issued in Indiana. Appellant, however, contends that the trial court misapplied Indiana law in holding that the 36 day delay in filing the claim after appellant had notice of death, which carried her 35 days beyond the limit of 60 fixed by the policy, was unreasonable as a matter of law.

We cannot agree with appellant's contention or with her interpretation of the principal Indiana cases cited by her: Equitable Life Ins. Co. of United States v. Kellemen, 224 Ind. 526, 69 N.E.2d 244; Supreme Tent, Knights of the Maccabees of the World v. Ethridge, 43 Ind.App. 475, 87 N.E. 1049; Peele v. Provident Fund Society, 147 Ind. 543, 44 N.E. 661, affirmed on reargument 46 N.E. 990; Insurance Co. of North America v. Brim, 111 Ind. 281, 12 N.E. 315. None of the cases are directly in point. The Kellemen case is somewhat obscure but appears to permit a suit on an industrial group insurance policy where no proof of death was filed within nine months after the event; however there is no showing whether the policy itself provided for any limitation or that the insurance company ever raised the issue of delay itself as a defense. The Ethridge case is also somewhat unclear as to essential details, but appears to hold that where assured disappeared for some time before his death and the local lodge of the fraternal benefit society knew as much about the circumstances of the case as did the beneficiary, the policy would not be forfeited for failure to file within the one year limit provided in the rules of the society — particularly where there was no showing that these rules were in effect during the pertinent period. The Peele case held that where an accidental death policy provided for the filing of a claim within 10 days of the event, the beneficiary wife was present at insured's drowning but the coroner's jury did...