Willis v. United States, 13248.

• Decision Date: 26 May 1961
• Docket Number: No. 13248.,13248.
• Citation: 291 F.2d 5
• Parties: Elizabeth WILLIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

291 F.2d 5 (1961)

Elizabeth WILLIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 13248.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

May 26, 1961.

Morton Hollander, Chief, Appellate Section, Arnold Petralia, Atty., U. S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., James P. O'Brien, U. S. Atty., William H. Orrick, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Robert Tieken, U. S. Atty., Chicago, Ill., Alan S. Rosenthal, Atty., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for appellant.

F. Raymond Marks, Jr., Frederic D. Houghteling, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff-appellee. Overton, Marks, Simons & Houghteling, Chicago, Ill., of counsel.

Before HASTINGS, Chief Judge, and DUFFY and KNOCH, Circuit Judges.

KNOCH, Circuit Judge.

The United States has appealed from judgment rendered for plaintiff in an action to recover the proceeds of a National Service Life Insurance policy.

The facts are largely undisputed. At the time of his death in an automobile accident, on April 1, 1951, Thomas L. Wilson, a member of the United States Air Force, was insured under a five-year term, level premium N.S.L.I. policy in the amount of $5,000, with an expiration date of April 19 or April 20, 1951. In this policy, which was in effect at the time of his death, Thomas Wilson had designated his maternal aunt, Mrs. Susie Brodnax, as principal beneficiary, and his mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Willis, the plaintiff herein, as contingent beneficiary.

On April 3, 1951, the Veterans Administration received a claim from Mrs. Willis, the contingent beneficiary of the current policy, for the proceeds of the policy. Receipt of the claim was acknowledged May 23, 1951. Under date of June 11, 1951, the V.A. wrote Mrs. Willis advising her that her son's case folder showed a $10,000 N.S.L.I. Certificate effective April 20, 1943, naming Mrs. Broadnax, described as in loco parentis, as principal, and Mrs. Willis as contingent beneficiary; that on June 12, 1946, the amount of insurance was reduced to $5,000; that on March 29, 1951, the insured Thomas Wilson had applied for a renewal of $5,000 N.S.L.I., naming his brother, Robert L. Wilson, as principal, and his niece, Jeannette Wilson, as contingent beneficiary. The V.A.'s letter further stated that the renewal application was unnecessary because the insured Thomas Wilson had died prior to the expiration of the current policy on April 20, 1951. (The stipulation of facts refers to an expiration date of April 19, 1951. This difference is not material. Thomas Wilson had died about 19 days before the expiration of the policy.)

However, the V.A. took the position that the insured had made a valid change of beneficiaries in the renewal application, which would be given full force and effect lacking evidence of another subsequent change of beneficiary. The letter concluded that Mrs. Willis' claim was disallowed, but that she would be given thirty days' time to notify the V.A. of her intention to appeal, to file suit in the U.S. District Court, or to furnish evidence of a change of beneficiary subsequent to March 29, 1951, the date of the renewal application; that on the expiration of thirty days, if none of the listed actions had been taken, the insurance would be settled in favor of Robert L. Wilson, who was named as principal beneficiary in the renewal application.

On April 25, 1951, the claim of Mrs. Brodnax, the principal beneficiary under the current policy, was received. This, too, was acknowledged by the V.A. on May 23, 1951, with a following letter on June 11, 1951, in which Mrs. Brodnax was given substantially the same information as Mrs. Willis. No thirty-day stay, however, was granted Mrs. Brodnax. She was told that it was not indicated that she had any interest in the N.S.L.I. policy of her nephew, and that appropriate action was being taken as of that date (June 11, 1951) leading to settlement in favor of Robert L. Wilson.

It is undisputed that the sole evidence on which the government relies to show change of beneficiary is the printed application for a new policy, V.A. Form 9-1658, executed on March 29, 1951, by the insured Thomas Wilson.^* This form reads in part:

6. Application is hereby made for renewal of National Service Life Insurance on the Five-Year Level Premium Term Plan, granted under Certificate No

...