Mann v. McDonald
Mann v. McDonald
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court:
This case has been in this court on a former appeal, and is reported in 2 App. D. C. 226. It was brought here then on a question of the application of the statute of limitations to the judgment sought to be enforced against the appellee; and the statute was held to be applicable and to constitute a bar to the enforcement. of the judgment as pleaded in the first and second of the defendant’s pleas; but as to the third plea, it was held that the replication thereto interposed by the plaintiff would exclude the) bar of
It was held on the former appeal that the statute of limitations constituted an absolute bar, unless it had been waived or dispensed with by an agreement founded upon valuable consideration. It is now contended on the part of the plaintiff that the facts set forth in the amended replication are sufficient in law to estop and preclude the defendant from pleading and availing himself of the bar of statute; and whether this be so or not, is, as already stated, the only question presented on this appeal.
The judgment was recovered by the plaintiff against Douglas H. Cooper, in October, 1874, and Cooper, the original defendant in the judgment, died in April, 1879. The present action was brought on the judgment by the plaintiff therein against the present defendant, as administratrix of Cooper, on the 13th of July, 1891.
It is alleged in the amended replication, that the original defendant, Cooper, had placed in the hands of the plaintiff, as collateral security for the debt due her, an insurance policy on his life; but that, after paying several premiums thereon,
The agreement, under which this paid-up policy was issued and held by the plaintiff, as .set out in the replication, is dated the 16th of May, 1876, and is as follows :
“The policy, No. 21242, in the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, having been surrendered to the company, with request of the insured, Douglas H. Cooper, and others interested in said policy, for a paid-up policy to be issued on the life of the said D. H. Cooper, in the name and for the benefit of Hannah N. Mann, it is understood that said Hannah N. Mann is to hold the said policy as security for judgment No. 12,622, at law, Sup. Court, District Columbia, for and during such time as she, the said Hannah N. Mann, may elect so to do, there being no obligation on the part of said Hannah N. Mann to pay the premiums on said policy. If, however, the said policy be alive or in force against the said company at the death of the said Douglas H. Cooper, then the said Hannah N. Mann is to apply the money received from said policy to the payment pro tanto of said judgment, first deducting from the money received as aforesaid the amount or amounts paid by the said Hannah N. Mann for premiums and interest thereon and costs in keeping alive the said paid-up policy.
“ It is further understood that the said Hannah N. Mann, notwithstanding the issuing of the said paid-up policy in her name and for her benefit, has and shall have at all times*553 the right to execute the said judgment and collect the amount due on the said judgment; provided, always, that in the event of the said judgment being paid or satisfied in any other way than from the said policy, the said Hannah N. Mann is to assign the said policy or account for the proceeds thereof to the said Douglas H. Cooper, or to the personal representives of the said Douglas H. Cooper.” This agreement was signed by the attorneys for the plaintiff, and by Douglas H. Coopen
This is the agreement upon which the plaintiff relies, and upon which the allegation in the replication is founded, that the defendant agreed, for valuable consideration, that the plaintiff should have at all times the right to execute the judgment and collect the amount due thereon, and therefore the statute of limitations is excluded as a bar. But the agreement makes no reference to the stutute of limitations, and it is manifest, from the whole tenor and purpose of the instrument, that the statute of limitations was not within the contemplation of the parties. The policy of insurance might turn out to be of little or no value; the assured might live to old age ; and therefore the plaintiff, by her counsel, thought proper to exclude any possible construction by which she could be restrained in the exercise of her right to reap the fruits of her judgment without hinderance or delay. The judgment and her right of execution thereof, were not to be affected by the policy of insurance held by the plaintiff, as mere collateral security, except in the event that, if any money was realized on the policy before the judgment was collected, the amount should be applied in part payment of the judgment. If it had been the intention of the parties that the judgment should remain open indefinitely, to await the contingent event of the receipt of money on the policy, we must suppose that such intention would have been expressed. But, on the contrary, we find the parties expressly agreeing, that, notwithstanding the policy of insurance, the plaintiff in the judgment should have at all times the right to execute
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Statute of Limitations, Waiver of. Where a judgment debtor placed in the hands of his judgment creditor a paid up policy of insurance on his life as collateral security for the judgment debt, and it was agreed between them that in event any money should be realized on the policy before the judgment was collected it should be applied as part payment thereon, it was held in a sci.fa. on the judgment against the administratrix of the judgment debtor to recover the balance due on the judgment after the amount realized on the policy had been applied upon the judgment, that such agreement did not constitute a waiver by the judgment debtor of the right to plead the statute of limitations.