68 Mo. App. 19 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1896
This is an action upon a policy of life insurance issued on the industrial plan. The-action was instituted before a justice of the peace by the plaintiff, who is the beneficiary of the policy named in the application. The defendant interposed no-defense to the merits before the justice, but it claimed
“The production by the company of this policy and of a receipt for the sum assured, signed by any person furnishing proof satisfactory to the company that he or she is the beneficiary or an executor or administrator, husband or wife, or relative by blood, or connection by marriage of the assured, shall be conclusive evidence that such sum has been paid to and received by the person or persons lawfully entitled to the same, and that all claims and demands upon said company under this policy have been fully satisfied.”
The circuit court declined to permit the defendant to file his bill of interpleader, on the ground that the action originated before a justice of the peace; that such magistrate had no jurisdiction to enter a bill of interpleader, which was a strictly equitable proceeding, and that the circuit court’s jurisdiction in appeals from justices was not original but derivative, hence the circuit court was equally powerless to entertain the bill. The defendant excepted to this ruling, and offered no
The defendant calls our attention to Wolff v. Vette, 17 Mo. App. 36, where we held that the claimant of credits attached in the hands of a garnishee might interplead for them under the statute, while the garnishment cause was pending in the circuit court on appeal. That decision was based on the ground that proceedings is cases of interpleader upon attachment under the statute-are in the nature of distinct suits, hence the claimant may file such a suit in any court having control of the property. There was nothing to prevent the defendant in this case to file an independent bill for an interpleader in the circuit court, either before or after the action instituted against it, provided that the facts warranted such a bill, but it could not inject a bill of interpleader by way of defense into the appealed action.
the judgment is affirmed.