134 Iowa 613 | Iowa | 1907
Two policies were issued by plaintiff to one Jarvis on the 9th day of September, 1889, each for $1,350, payable on his death to his wife, or, if not living, to his children, or, if no children should survive, then to the executors, administrators, or assigns of the insured. Prior to the 25th day of December, 1894, the wife of the insured had died, and he was without children, and he had assigned the policy of the defendants Chittenden & Eastman, a partnership to whom he was indebted, and forwarded a copy of this assignment to the plaintiff. It appears, also, that prior to the assignment to Chittenden & Eastman there had been another assignment by way of security to the Iowa State Savings Bank which had not been forwarded to the plaintiff, and was not known to it when the assignment to Chittenden & Eastman was received and recognized. On the last .above date Jarvis, the insured, disappeared from his home in Burlington, and was not heard of for more than seven years. At the April term, 1902, of the district court of Des Moines county, the Iowa State Savings Bank applied as creditor for the appointment of an administrator for the estate of Jarvis, alleging his disappearance, and that his whereabouts had continued unkn. wn to his friends and the members of his family, and that he had not been heard from. Proper proceedings were had, under which defendant Waldeck was appointed administrator of the estate of Jarvis, and a claim was then made jointly by Waldeck as administrator and Chittenden & Eastman as assignees for payment of the policies held by Jarvis in the plaintiff company ; and proofs’ of death were furnished by Waldeck, in
But, in the exercise of. its jurisdiction ovér property within the State, it may be provided by the legislature that after the absence of the owner unheard of for a specified period such property may be administered upon in the same form of proceeding as is provided for administration upon the property of a person deceased, and such administration will be valid as against the absentee and all persons interested, although he is in fact not dead. Cunnius v. Reading School District, 198 U. S. 458 (25 Sup. Ct. 721, 49 L. Ed.
It may further be suggested that the obligation of the plaintiff under its policies was to pay the amount named
In a case quite similar in its essential facts to the one now before us the Court of Appeals of New York held that an arrangement for the payment of the amount of the policies entered into in view of the assumed death of the assured as indicated by his absence unheard of" for more than seven years was binding after it had been ascertained that -he was still living; such arrangement having been made with regard to the chances of success of the claimant under the policy at the time when the insured was thought to he dead. In that case, as in this, “ clearly but one thing was .dealt with or could be in the agreement of .settlement, to wit,_ the. possibility that the insured should prove to be alive.” Sears v.
Where parties have entered into a contract or arrangement based upon uncertain or contingent events purposely as a compromise of a doubtful claim arising from them, .... and there is ... an absence of bad faith, violation of confidence, misrepresentation, concealment, and other inequitable conduct, ... if the facts upon which such agreement or transaction was founded . . . turned out very differently from what was expected or anticipated, this error, miscalculation, or disappointment, although relating to a matter of fact and not of law, is not such a mistake within the meaning of the equitable doctrine as entitles the disappointed party to any relief. ... In such classes of agreements and transactions the parties are supposed to calculate the chances, and they certainly assume the risks.
The judgment of the trial court is therefore affirmed.