Bowen v. State Mutual Insurance
Bowen v. State Mutual Insurance
Opinion of the Court
Mrs. Matilda Bowen filed suit against the State Mutual Life Insurance Company and State Mutual Insurance Company. The State Mutual Insurance Company by a reinsurance contract absorbed the life company, assumed all its obligations, and undertook to carry out its contracts. On October 37, 1910, W. L. Bowen, the plaintiff’s husband, had issued to him a policy of life insurance in the State Mutual Life Insurance Company, in which the company agreed to pay Ms wife, the plaintiff, $3000 upon the death of the insured, provided the insured complied with the contract. The policy provided that at the end of each
W. L. Bowen died on October 21, 1935. On May 21, 1936, the plaintiff -notified the company, in writing, of his death, and demanded payment of the face value of the policy, less the sum of $1764 loan due to the company and interest thereon, and the sum of $50, with interest, being a note of the insured. The company denied any liability under the policy, claiming that under its terms it had lapsed on February 27, 1932, for non-payment of a note given for interest due on the loan since October 27, 1931. The plaintiff set up that by indulging the insured many times in the payment of interest payments, and by other conduct and treatment of the insured, the company had caused him to believe that it would not insist upon the terms of the contract in his case, and that it had estopped itself from insisting thereon, had novated the original contract, and had by its actions been the cause of the insured’s failure to perform; that when the interest fell due in October, 1931, the company informed the insured that if he would pay $20.56 cash and execute a note for the balance of $50, payable February 27, 1932, it would continue the insurance in force; and that when this note became due the insured could pay $20 and interest due on the note and execute another note for the $30; and that the insured paid this sum and executed this note. However, when this note fell due, the company wrote to the insured that his note for $50 and $1 interest was due, and that unless he paid the same the insurance would not longer be in force. It appeared that the amount of the loan and interest at this time exceeded the amount of the loan value of the policy. It is insisted by the plaintiff that the company acted in bad faith in not offering the insured a note for $30 to sign, and allowing him to pay $20 and interest, as it had agreed to do. It does not appear that the insured ever offered to take care of the $50 note in this manner and was refused the right to do so by the company. The plaintiff alleged that the action of the company in refusing to keep the insurance in force and in denying liability and refusing to pay
According to the allegations of her petition and the terms of the policy sued on, the plaintiff is not entitled to recover under any theory advanced. Even if the company had wrongfully terminated the contract in March, 1932, there was at that time nothing due the insured. The loan against the policy, with interest, then exceeded the amount of the loan value of the insurance. The policy provided that if the insured did not, within thirty days after interest on the loan became due, pay such interest, and at the time the loan with interest exceeded the loan value, the company should terminate the insurance. It does not appear that the insured offered to pay the $50 note when due, in the manner claimed, by paying $20 and executing another note for $30. It does not affirmatively appear that the company refused to permit the insured to pay this note given for interest in this manner. The petition alleges that the insurance company notified the insured that his $50 note, with interest, was due, and that the insured did not pay the same. In these circumstances, the petition plainly shows that the termination of the insurance came about through the failure of the insured to pay this note, which had been given to the company in payment of interest due in October of the previous year, and that upon the failure of the insured to pay the same, the loan with interest exceeding the loan value, the company complied with the terms of the mutual contract by terminating the insurance. Then no excuse is given why the insured did not thereafter reinstate or attempt to reinstate the insurance by offering to pay the interest on the loan, as provided in the policy. The company wrote to the insured, on March 14, 1932, that for the above reasons his insurance was no longer in force; and the insured lived until October 21, 1935. No effort was made during all the intervening time, over three years, by the insured to pay any interest or attempt the reinstatement of the in
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.