Bennecke v. Insurance Company

by William Burnham Woods

United States Supreme Court

105 U.S. 355

Bennecke  v.  Insurance Company

ERROR to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of Illinois.

This was an action of assumpsit brought by Amelia Bennecke to recover of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company the sum of $2,000 upon a policy of life insurance.

The parties having waived a jury, the issues, both of fact and law, were submitted to the court, which made a special finding, from which the following facts appear:--

On Jan. 29, 1878, Adolph Bennecke procured from the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, through John Ansley, its agent at Bloomington, Ill., a policy of insurance on his life, for $2,000, for the benefit of Amelia Bennecke, his wife. It was an ordinary life policy, and contained, among other conditions, the following:--

'3d, That the said insured is under this policy freely permitted to reside in any civilized abode in the western hemisphere, lying north of the thirty-second parallel of north latitude in the United States, and lying south of said thirty-second parallel, excepting from the first day of July to the first day of November, and in the eastern hemisphere lying north of the forty-second parallel of north latitude and west of the fortieth meridian of longitude east from Greenwich, and he may also pass as a passenger by usual routes and means of public conveyance to and from any port or place within the foregoing limits; but if he shall, at any time during the continuance of this policy, pass beyond or be without the foregoing limits without the consent of this company previously given in writing in each or either of the foregoing cases, then this policy shall become and be null and void.

'4th, That in every case in which this policy shall cease and determine, or shall be or become null and void, all premiums paid in respect to the same shall be forfeited to the company.'

After the signatures of the secretary and vice-president of the company and on the margin at the bottom of the policy appears the following:--

'<symbol> Agents of the company have no authority to make, alter, or change any condition of the policy, nor to waive forfeiture thereof.'

The annual premium of $46.24 required by the terms of the policy was duly and fully paid.

Bennecke left his home at Bloomington, Ill., on Sept. 26, 1878, and went to New Orleans, La., where he remained until his death, which occurred Oct. 15, 1878. He died of yellow fever.

Ansley had been the agent of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, at Bloomington, Ill., from 1863, up to and including October, 1878. On Oct. 16, 1878, he first heard that Bennecke had gone to New Orleans. On October 17, he called on Haker, the assured's brother-in-law, to whom he stated that he had heard that Bennecke was then in New Orleans, and that on account of this violation of the condition of the policy the insurance was forfeited. He advised Haker to pay, on behalf of Bennecke, twenty dollars, the price of a Southern permit. Haker at first said he knew nothing about in, and refused to pay the money. He then said he would look into the matter. The same day, after a consultation with Mrs. Bennecke, he went to Ansley's office, paid him twenty dollars, and took from him a receipt, as follows:--

'$20. AGENCY AT BLOOMINGTON, ILL., Oct. 17, 1878.

'Received from Christ. Haker, twenty dollars, being the amount required for a southern permit on policy of Adolph Bennecke in the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Hartford, Conn., No. 52,242.

'Amount of policy $2,000.

'JOHN ANSLEY, Agent.'

At the time of taking this receipt, neither Haker, Ansley, nor Bennecke's wife or friends knew that Bennecke was dead.

Ten dollars per thousand was the customary price fixed by the company as the extra premium for a permit to go south of the thirty-second parallel between the 1st of July and the 1st of November. Ansley recollected having received money for three or four such permits, possibly more, at that rate. In such cases he simply received the money for the permits, forwarded it to the State agents of the insurance company at Chicago, and requested them to get permits from the insurance company at Hartford, Conn., and send them to him for delivery. He enclosed the twenty dollars received from Haker to the State agents of the insurance company at Chicago, in the following letter, the receipt of which they acknowledged:--

'AGENCY AT BLOOMINGTON, Oct. 17, 1878.

'Messrs. STEARNS, DICKINSON, & CO.

'GENTS,-Herein please find draft for $20, less ex., for which please get and send me a southern permit for A. Bennecke, insured by policy 52,242; amount $2,000. He went to New Orleans about ten days ago, and will probably remain there during the balance of the month. Please give this immediate attention, and get permit here as soon as possible. This twenty dollars paid this day.

'Yours truly,

JOHN ANSLEY.' Ansley never received a permit from the insurance company for Bennecke. On the 6th of November, 1878, he having become satisfied that Bennecke was dead at the time the money was paid for the permit, of his own motion took twenty dollars of other money belonging to the company and tendered it to Haker, stating as a reason therefor that Bennecke was dead at the time the money was paid. Haker refused to receive it. Ansley had no authority to issue policies of insurance, but after they were issued he turned them over to the parties on payment of the premium. He received no word from the company or the State agents about Bennecke's death up to the time he tendered the money to Haker. On the 26th of October he addressed a letter to those agents, in which he informed them that Bennecke had died on October 17, in New Orleans, of yellow fever. From all that appears this was the first information received by them of Bennecke's death.

Ansley knew what was the price required for a permit, and had never applied for one without getting it. But he never applied for one when yellow fever was prevailing in the forbidden region. Proofs of loss, dated the 6th of December, 1878, were furnished the insurance company, and on the trial it offered to return the money received by Ansley for the permit.

Suit on the policy was begun in the Circuit Court of McLean County, Illinois, on the eighteenth day of April, 1878, by a declaration on the policy. The general issue only was pleaded, and on the petition of the defendant the case was transferred to the Circuit Court of the United States. It was admitted by the company that there was no other defence in the case than what arose from the forfeiture of the policy by reason of the fact that Bennecke had gone south of the thirty-second parallel of latitude between the first of July and the first of November, without the consent of the company previously given in writing; and on the foregoing facts it occurred as a question whether the forfeiture had been waived by the company, on which question the judges were opposed, and the presiding judge being of opinion that the forfeiture had not been waived, judgment was entered for the defendant.

Whereupon, and on motion of the defendant, by its counsel, it was ordered that the state of the pleadings, and the facts found, and the question on which the judges differed, be certified according to the request of the defendant, and the law in that case made and provided, to this court to be finally decided.

The cause has accordingly been brought to this court by writ of error.

Mr. William A. McKenney for the plaintiff in error.

Mr. Edward S. Isham for the defendant in error.

MR. JUSTICE WOODS, after stating the case, delivered the opinion of the court.

Notes