Denike v. Denike

THOMPSON (R. L.), J., pro tem.

T

his is an appeal from a judgment against the beneficiary named in an endowment policy of insurance which contained no provision for substitution of beneficiaries. The judgment was rendered on the theory that the interest of the beneficiary had been assigned and relinquished, which is without support in the record.

July 19, 1906, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York issued a twenty-year endowment policy of insurance for the paj^ment of five hundred dollars on the life of Willitt Denike, naming his mother, Josephine Denike, as beneficiary thereof. The policy contained no provision for changing the beneficiary at the option of the insured, except in the event of the death of the beneficiary. The policy provided that if the insured should die within the period of twenty years, the policy would be paid to the plaintiff, Josephine Denike, “if living, or otherwise to the beneficiary designated by the insured, after her death.” The only other provision of the policy with reference to the changing of the beneficiary was the condition that “if the beneficiary under this policy shall die previous to the death of the insured . . . this policy shall revert to the insured . . . who may subsequently designate another beneficiary. . . . ”

The insured was nineteen years of age and was living with his mother at the time this policy was issued. She retained possession of the policy for ten years, paying the premiums thereon. June 2, 1917, the insured married the respondent Isabelle Denike, and subsequently removed his personal belongings from his mother’s home, including the policy, which had been kept among her private papers. August 22, 1917, he signed a written request for the insurance company to pay the proceeds of said policy, in the event of his death, to his wife, Isabelle Denike. This request was accompanied with a signed acceptance on the part of his wife. Upon forwarding this request to the insurance company, the proposed change of beneficiaries was refused by the company upon the ground that it was necessary for

[495]

the insured to first procure the consent of the beneficiary named in the policy. This consent the beneficiary refused to grant, and it was never obtained. August 16, 1922, the insured was committed to the Napa State Hospital for the Insane, where he remained as an inmate until his death, which occurred March 6, 1924.