Security Life & Annuity Co. of America v. Underwood
Security Life & Annuity Co. of America v. Underwood
Opinion of the Court
This is an action by Mrs. Fannie F. Underwood against the Security Life & Annuity Company of America to recover the amount of two life insurance policies for $5,000 each issued by the defendant company, for her. benefit, on the life of her husband, George B. Underwood. The policies were numbered, respectively, 1319 and 6098. Upon trial without a jury judgment was rendered in favor of plaintiff for the amount due upon policy 1319, and in ■ favor of defendant as to policy 6098. From the judgment defendant appeals.
'By appropriate cross-assignments of error, plaintiff brings up for revision the judgment against her as to policy No. 6098. The petition alleged the issuance of the policies, the payment of premiums, and that the policies were in full force and effect at the date of the death of the said George B. Underwood, which occurred September 7, 1907. Defendant admitted the issuance of the policies, and the death of the insured as alleged, but alleged that the policies had become forfeited under the terms thereof, and the terms of certain notes given by the insured for premiums due because of nonpayment of the premiums and said premium notes, and that at the date of the death of said Underwood the policies were null and void. The case turned entirely upon the issue of forfeiture as pleaded by appellant.
The evidence authorizes the following conclusions of fact:
The defendant company on December 31, 1903, issued life policy No. 1319 on the life of George B. Underwood, his son, Edwin F. Underwood, beneficiary, for the sum of $10,-000. Afterwards the amount was reduced to $5,000 and the beneficiary changed to Mrs. Fannie F. Underwood, wife of the insured. On December 30, 1905, the defendant company issued to said Underwood its policy No. 6098 for $5,000, payable to his said wife. Both policies contained the usual provisions as to forfeiture for nonpayment of premiums at maturity, but providing that “there shall be no forfeiture if such premium is tendered with interest at the rate of five per cent, per annum in thirty days,” and contained a provision that premiums might be paid by paying a certain proportion thereof in cash and a certain proportion to be paid by way of loan from the company to be charged against the reserve, or what is called the loan value, of the policy. Each of the policies contained the following provisions:
“Special Provision. (7) It is hereby agreed: First, that the company shall, if requested by the insured, advance for the insured thirty per cent, of each premium paid hereunder during the dividend period, which shall be a lien against this policy, accumulating at three and one-half per cent, interest, compounded annually, until paid by the application of cash dividends or otherwise; and second, that in event of the death of the insured during the dividend period and while this policy is in force, a mortuary dividend equal to thirty per cent, of all premiums *295 heretofore due hereon, accumulated at three! and one-half per cent, interest, compounded annually, shall be paid with the principal sum insured hereunder.
“Right to Cash Loan. (8) At any time after this policy has been in force for one full year and premiums have been paid up to the anniversary of the insurance next after the date when the loan is made, the company will lend upon demand, on the sole security of this policy, the respective sum named in the table of cash loans herein, which shall include any previous loans then unpaid. Interest shall be at five per cent, per annum in advance.
“Right to Automatic Nonforfeiture. (9) If any premium shall not be paid when due, the same shall be charged against the policy as a loan, if the respective loan value be sufficient to enable such advance, after providing for the existing loans and accrued interest: Provided, that if not sufficient to cover the entire premium due, a premium for a shorter period, but no less than a monthly premium, shall be charged, if the available loan value is sufficient. Notice of such advance shall be mailed to the insured, and at any time while this policy is sustained in force the payment of premiums may be resumed.”
Each of the policies also contained a provision that at the death of the insured, “all premiums and indebtedness hereon having been fully paid,” the amount of the policy would be paid to the beneficiary. The premiums upon policy 1319 were from about June, 1904, payable quarterly in advance on December 31st, March 31st, June 30th, and September 30th of each year. The 'amount of each premium to be paid in cash was $30.75, and by way of loan under the aforesaid provisions of the policy $13.15. The premiums upon No. 6098 were payable annually, the amount being $181.50, of which $136.15 was payable in cash and $45.35 by way of loan from the company. From the first the insured availed himself of this loan privilege, paying only the cash required by the terms of the policy. The payments and loans were regularly made so as to keep the policies in force up to December, 1906, when the insured, on account of his straitened circumstances, found himself unable to make the usual cash payment, whereupon after correspondence with the company, and by agreement with it, the insured executed two notes, one for $136.15 for the cash part of the premium upon policy •6098, and one for $30.75, for the cash premium due upon policy 1319. As it will be necessary to a clear understanding of the real issues presented, one of these notes is here set out in full: “$30.75. Houston, Texas, December 31, ’06. Thirty days after date I promise to pay to the Security Life and Annuity Company of America, at its executive office, for value received, the sum of thirty and 75/ioo dollars, with interest at six per cent, per annum from date, with attorney’s fees, and waiving relief from valuation • and appraisement law, same being the cash amount of the premium due and payable this 31st day of December, 1906, on policy No. 1319, of said company. I understand and agree that in consideration hereof, said policy is extended until default is made in payment of this note, when all rights and benefits secured thereby shall cease and determine without notice, and said policy shall be ipso facto null and void, except as otherwise provided therein. I hereby agree that this note shall not be deemed a payment for life insurance, but only for an extension of the time for the payment of the same and the nonpayment of this note when due, and the determination of said insurance by reason thereof, shall not impair the validity of this note, but the same shall become due and payable for the proportion of its face and interest that the'time the insurance has been extended for bears to the whole time covered by said premium. I hereby agree that upon nonpayment of this note, or any extension thereof, when due, the company is hereby authorized to charge against the reserve value of said policy, if any, the proportion of the amount of its face and interest, that the time the said policy was continued in force by this note, or any extension thereof, bears to the whole time covered by said premium; and that the amount of said policy payable during the extended period given in ‘First Option’ be proportionately reduced. Should said reserve value be insufficient to pay the amount due upon this note as above provided, the balance remaining is to be due and payable.” The other note is identical, except as to amounts, date, and maturity, being for $136.15, dated December 30, 1906, and due 90 days after date. For these notes the defendant company executed its receipts identical except, as to amounts. One of them is here set out in full: “$136.15. Chicago, Ill., Dee. 30, 1906. Received of George B. Underwood of 1418 Rusk Ave., Houston, Texas, ninety (90) day note of this date, due Mar. 30, 1907, for $136.15, for which policy No. 6098, of the Security Life and Annuity Company of America is continued in force until the maturity of the note. On payment of said note on or before maturity, the company’s regular premium receipt will be delivered to the insured. The nonpayment of said note at maturity will render said policy null and void, and terminate all rights thereunder, except as otherwise expressly provided in said note and policy. Security Life and Annuity Company of America, Henry C. Brown, Secretary. Not valid unless countersigned by W. A. Jenkins, Comptroller.” The balance of the premium on policy. 1319, to *296 wit, $13.15, was made up by the loan on the policy, and the same was done as to the balance of the premium due on policy 6098.
Neither of these notes was ever paid, nor was any payment ever made by the insured of any premiums upon either policy except by these notes and the automatic loans after this date. Appellee relies upon certain acts of appellant as constituting a waiver of the forfeiture for nonpayment of the notes, and also for nonpayment of the subsequently accruing quarterly premiums due March 31st and June 30th, on policy 1319, and claims, also, that there was a sufficient amount of the unexhausted loan value on that policy, together with what is claimed to have been due to insured upon a certain “board contract,” to carry the policy through September, or at least until after the date of his death on September 7, 1907. To show such waiver the following letters, written by appellant to appellee on the dates named were introduced:
“April 11, 1907. X desire to direct your attention to the premium on your policy No. 1319, which became due on March 31, 1907. We are particularly desirous of having you continue your insurance with this company, and would respectfully ask that you advise us the reason for your not remitting your premium when due. Thanking you for the courtesy of a prompt reply, I remain.”
“May 8th, 1907. We have not as yet received payment of the quarterly premium on your policy No. 1319, which became due on March 31, 1907. Heretofore you have made payments very regularly and it is likely an oversight on your part that you have failed to make provision for the last payment. If for any reason you are unable to make payment at this time, we trust you will inform us, as we desire to lend our assistance wherever it will be an accommodation to our policy holders.”
“July 11, 1907. The premium of $30.75 on your policy No. 1319 became due June 30, 1907, and remains unpaid. We are particularly desirous of having you continue your insurance with this company and would respectfully ask that you advise us the reason for your not remitting your premium when due.”
The so-called “board contract” becomes important, as the conclusion of the trial court that policy 1319 was in force at the date of the death of the insured rests upon it. It is written in the usual jargon used by insurance companies, seemingly intended to be intelligible only to experts in insurance, but we gather from it that it provided that in consideration that the insured shall “annually furnish the company, upon its request, the names of ten people, residents of his county, whom he deems insurable,” and, further, “shall cause the company to receive the regular premiums on an amount of insurance aggregating at least ten thousand dollars” the company, by some sort of an arrangement, would pay the insured, within 60 days from June 30 th, annually during the life of the contract, a certain amount based upon the amount of the insurance upon which the insured causes the premiums to be paid and the total insurance in force issued during the 10 years between July 1, 1903, and June 30, 1913. With regard to this “board contract,” it was shown that the amount paid to the insured in August, 1906, as his share of the distribution provided for was $25.90, and it was shown by one witness that the amount due upon one of these contracts to a person who held one and who had complied with the conditions for the year 1907 was a little more than that. It was shown that when the time came to make this distribution by the defendant company, in August, 1907, the policies herein sued on were not counted in as entitled to share, on the ground that they had been then canceled. If the insured had been entitled to share in this fund, at the time of the distribution in August, 1907, it seems to be agreed that he would have been entitled to $26, which, by the terms of the contract, the defendant company would have been required to pay him. The “board contract” was not a part of the contract of insurance, but was an entirely independent contract.
With regard to policy 6098, the premium note given for the annual premium due December 31, 1906, was never paid nor any part of it. To show waiver, it was shown that this note was sent to a bank in Houston, and that, not having been paid, it was on April 7, 1906, returned to the defendant company. It does not appear what instructions the bank had about it, nor when it was sent to the bank. The only thing shown with regard to this is that it was in the bank, and was returned on the date named. This note was due March 30th, three days of grace added carried it to April 3d. On December 10, 1907, the company received notice of the death of the insured, and on the next day it sent out, directed to G. B. Underwood, 1418 Rusk street, Houston, the following unsigned printed notice: “The third annual premium of $181.50 on policy No. 609S will be due December 30, 1907, on the life of George B. Underwood, 1418 Rusk Street, Houston, Texas, payable as follows: Gross $181.50. Loan $45.00. Cash $136.15.”
We agree with the following conclusions of fact of the trial court as to these facts, with regard to policy 6098: “As to policy No. 6098, the plaintiff: gave a note and the note was sent to the bank in Houston for collection when it matured, and payment was not made on it, and it was returned, and that seems to have been treated as the end of that matter. I do not consider the *297 sending of the notice of December 10, 1907, was more than a formality, or in the nature of a clerical detail, and not as a recognition of the existence of liability; or, in other words, was sent out on a printed form used in ordinary course of business, it having been shown that such notices are often sent out by subordinates without the knowledge of their superior officers, and the secretary of the company received a letter announcing death of assured the day before the notice was sent.” The trial court found that exclusive of the board contract the policy reserve was not sufficient to carry policy 1319 to September 7, 1907 (the date of the death of insured). This finding is correct, and, further, we find that it was not shown that this policy had any loan value on June 30, 1907. The court found, which finding we adopt as correct, that it was not shown that the December note for $30.75 or the premium due March 30, 1907, on policy 1319 was paid, to which we add that it was clearly shown that the premium due June 30, 1907, on this policy was not paid. It is not contended by appellee that the cash part thereof was paid otherwise than by the proceeds of the board contract.
The court found as a conclusion of law: “There was manifestly a waiver of the right of forfeiture upon policy No. 1319, and that repeated demands for subsequent premiums up to the premium for June, and including that, manifested and made clear that there had been no forfeiture, but the policy was still treated as in force and was desired to be continued, and therefore it was an existing liability for the sum of $5,000 at the time of the death of the insured, and I find for plaintiff on this policy for $5,000, with 6 per cent, interest from December 19, 1907.”
By its first assignment appellant complains of this conclusion. This assignment presents the entire question of the correctness of the judgment as to this policy. The policy provides as follows: “This contract is based on the receipt of premiums annually in advance; but premiums may be paid in semiannual, quarterly, or monthly installments in advance as per the company’s rates for such payments. * * Failure to pay any premiums when due will render this policy wholly void and forfeit all premiums paid the company, except as herein provided.” It was further provided that the company would waive such default and accept payment provided the amount of such premium was paid with interest at 5 per cent, per annum from the date of default within, 30 days thereafter.
But the judgment of the trial court seems to rest mainly upon the proposition that the letters referred to showed a waiver of the forfeiture for default in the payment of the December note and the March premium, and that, when the next premium became due on June 30th, the money due the insured from the board contract was sufficient to pay enough of this premium to carry the policy beyond the date o’f the death of the insured, September 7th. It is true that the court in its tenth conclusion of fact finds that there was sufficient to carry the premiums over until after September; that is, entirely through the quarter during which the death occurred. We cannot understand how, in any view of the evidence, this result could have been reached. It is not contended that in any event the amount due on this board contract could have been more than $26. That is what appellee claims, and, seeming to doubt the correctness of the court’s finding that it was sufficient to carry the policy through September, she seeks to apply to this amount the same effect as is given to another provision of the policy (to be hereafter referred to) under which the amount due upon this contract, if more than sufficient to pay one month’s premium, should be applied pro rata upon the quarterly premium due June 30th, and that so applied the $26 would pay sufficient of the cash portion of this premium of $30.75 as to carry the policy beyond September 7th. We think the evidence shows conclusively that there was nothing due upon this contract. In the first place, it was one of the express conditions of the contract that the insured “shall cause the company to receive the regular premiums on an amount of insurance of ten thousand dollars." It is undisputed that of this annual premium on policy 6098, due December 31, 1906, the insured had not paid anything, and the court properly found that this policy was forfeited. It further is undisputed that of the quarterly premiums due on policy 1319 on December 31st, March 31st, and June 30th the insured had not paid anything. So that it is conclusively shown that no part of this express condition upon which the insured was to be entitled to anything on this board contract had been complied with at the time the distribution was to be made “within sixty days after the 30th June.” And it is also conclusively shown that it was so treated by the company. If it should be contended that the waiver of the forfeiture for nonpayment of the December note, and the March premiums was equivalent to “causing the company to receive these premiums” so far as concerns policy 1319, still that would not be a compliance with the condition which required the payment of the regular premiums on ten thousand dollars of insurance.
This renders j it unnecessary to pass upon the other assignments of error so far as concerns policy 1319. So much of the judgment of the court as sustains the right of appellee to recover. on this policy finds no support in the evidence as we view it upon the most favorable view to appellee which can be taken of it. The case was fully developed in the ¡ trial court, and we can properly dc nothing except to reverse the judgment in favor of appellee, and render judgment here that she take nothing as to policy 1319.
This brings us to the cross-assignments. of error of appellee complaining of the judgment in favor of appellant as to policy 6098, the facts with regard to which have been fully set out.
Another question is suggested by.the evidence which it is, not necessary to decide, but which we are,inclined to think is entitled to serious consideration. Tbe note given for tbe annual premium on policy 6098 has the following clause: “I understand and agree that in consideration hereof said policy is extended until default is made in payment of tbis note, when all rights and benefits secured thereby shall cease and determine without notice, and said policy shall be ipso facto null and .void, except as otherwise provided therein. I hereby agree that tbis note shall not be deemed a payment for life insurance, but only for an extension of tbe time for tbe payment of tbe same and the nonpayment of tbis note when due, and tbe termination of said insurance by reason thereof, shall not impair tbe validity of tbis note, but tbe same shall become due and payable for tbe proportion of its face and interest that tbe time tbe insurance has been extended for bears to'the whole time covered by said premium.” ■ In view of tbis clause, did tbe company have tbe right to continue tbe policy in forcé; without consulting tbe insured, and thus charge him, whether be so desired or not, with tbe full amount of tbe note, notwithstanding tbe express condition that upon default in payment the insured should only be bound for tbe proportion thereof as expressed in tbe note, which amounted to one-fourth thereof? Insured had indicated bis intention and desire to drop tbe policy, which be bad a right to do, only paying for tbe extension. Could tbe company deprive him of this option, and impose upon him, without bis consent, tbe burden of a continuance of it? Tbis disposes of appellee’s first and second cross-assignments of error, which with tbe several propositions thereunder are overruled.
Tbe third and fourth cross-assignments complaining of certain conclusions of fact of tbe trial court embraced in paragraphs 8 and 9 thereof, with tbe propositions thereunder, are, we think, without substantial merit, and are overruled without discussion.
We find no error authorizing a reversal of that part of tbe judgment refusing a recovery upon policy 6098, and, as . to that, tbe judgment is affirmed. Our conclusion is that, in so far as the judgment allows a recovery by appellee on policy 1319, it should be reversed and judgment here rendered for *301 appellant, and that, in so far as the judgment is. in favor of appellant on policy 6098, it should be affirmed, and it has been so ordered.
Affirmed in part. Reversed and rendered in part.
Reference
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- Security Life Annuity Co. of America v. Underwood. [Fn&8224]
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