203 Pa. 82 | Pa. | 1902
Opinion by
On September 17, 1879, the Provident Life and Trust Company of Philadelphia issued its policy of insurance to S within C. Shortlidge, by the terms of which it promised to pay him the sum of $10,000 on September 17, 1900, when he would be sixty years of age; but, if he should die before that time, the promise of the company was to pay the said sum to his wife, Jennie J. Shortlidge, and such children as should survive him, in equal shares to each; and, if none should survive, then to his executors, administrators or assigns, within sixty days after due notice and satisfactory proof of his death, during the continuance of the policy. While it was in force, on June 4, 1892, Shortlidge executed a deed of assignment for the benefit . of creditors to Henry C. Howard. The policy was not treated by the assignee-as an asset of the assigned estate ; he did not' include it in the inventory filed in the office of the prothonotary of Delaware county, nor is there any reference to it in his , account, filed December 2, 1893, and subsequently confirmed absolutely by the court, as a matter of course, in the absence of any exceptions to it. No premiums were paid by the assignee; through assistance furnished by others it was kept alive for several years. The assignee^ subsequently became insane ; on March 19,1901, Garrett E. Smedley, the appellee, was appointed trustee to succeed him, and is now claiming the proceeds of the policy, which the Provident Life and Trust Company has always been ready to pay to whoever may be judicially determined to be entitled to receive the money. The substituted assignee has no rights which his predecessor did not possess when he was removed, and the claim of the assigned estate must be considered as presented by the original assignee. Jennie J. Shortlidge, who was the wife of Swithin C. Shortlidge when the policy was issued, died February 4, 1890. On November 15, 1893, he married Marie Dixon Jones, to whom, on October 18, 1893, as found by the court below, in consideration of her promise to become his wife, he transferred his interest in the policy. The finding is, “ In consideration of Miss Jones’s consent under the circumstances to become his wife, it had been agreed between them that he should transfer to her his right under the policy of the Provident Life & Trust Co., to receive the $10,000 payable to him should he attain the
That Howard, the original assignee, intended to discard the policy as an asset of the assigned estate is indicated by his conduct at the very inception of the trust. As was his duty, he
At the date of the assignment to Howard the policy had eight years and three months to run. Whether it could ever become a realizable asset of the assigned estate depended entirely upon whether Shortlidge would live until September 17, 1900, during which period the assignee would not only have been compelled to delay the settlement of the estate, but to pay a number of premiums; and, if at any time during that period Shortlidge should have died, the proceeds of the policy would have gone to others. Surely no assignee would be expected to keep up such a policy, and, if he were to do so out of the funds of the assigned estate, and the benefits should flow to others by reason of the death of the insured before the endowment paying period had arrived, he might be properly surchargeable for all premiums paid by him as trustee. Nor was the assignee required to offer this policy for sale; for, at the date of the assignment, it had no salable value. The interest of Shortlidge in it was simply contingent upon his living to be sixty years of age; and no transfer by him or his assignee could have passed the interest of his children in it, without which it is not reasonable to suppose any one. would have purchased it. J. Thomas Moore, assistant to the manager of the insurance department of the company, testified: “ Q. Was there any market or any possibility of disposing for any payment of the endowment obligation of such a policy in 1892 with eight years still to run, with premiums covering the insurance obligation as well as the endowment obligation to pay, but with the insurance obligation outstanding in another owner? A. Not with the companj'-; no, sir. Q. Was there a possibility of realizing upon such an obligation with any party, so far. as your experience in the insurance business enables you to say ? A. I would say no, sir.” The testimony of David G. Alsop, actuary of the company, was as follows: “ Q. Will
As there was good cause why the assignee should have disregarded the policy as an asset of the estate assigned to him for the benefit of the assignor’s creditors, his right to absolutely abandon it, never to be reclaimed either by him or his successor for those for whom the legal title of the assignor’s estate was held, is founded upon reason, and, therefore, settled by authorities that cannot be questioned. We have referred to the causes which justified the abandonment of this policy; and they furnish the reason of the law that it was the right of the assignee to abandon what was manifestly a burdensome asset, with no value at the time; to be preserved only by the expenditure of the funds of the assigned estate ; with no prospect of a return for years, and with the chances, at least even, that, in the end, others would reap the benefit of it.
In Hanson v. Stevenson, 1 Barn. & Ald. 307, Lord Ellenbobough said: “ The assignees of a bankrupt are not bound to take what Lord Kenton called a damnosa haereditas, viz., property of the bankrupt, which so far from being valuable, would be a charge to the creditors ; but they must make their election promptly, and having once made it, they must abide by that decision.” In Copeland v. Stephens, 1 Barn. & Ald. 593, the same judge said : “We are of opinion that the general assignment of a bankrupt’s personal estate, under his commission, does not vest a term of years in the assignees, unless they do some act to manifest their assent to the assignment, as it regards the term, and their acceptance of the estate. . . . The assignees of a bankrupt are not bound to accept a term of years, that belonged to the bankrupt, subject to the rent and covenants ; for the object of the statute and of the assignment being the payment of the bankrupt’s debts, and the assignees under the com
The controversy here is not between Shortlidge and his assignee for the benefit of creditors. The latter is not now asserting title against the former by attempting to wrest some
After the finding already quoted of the circumstances under which the policy was assigned to Marie Dixon Jones, the court concluded: “It is clear that Miss Jones is to be regarded as a purchaser from Shortlidge for value. Her marriage to him upon consideration whereof the assignment was made, was a valuable consideration. It is not shown that she knew of Shortlidge’s insolvency or of an intent on his part by means of this transfer to her to defraud his creditors. It does not appear that she knew of the general assignment of his assets to Howard for the benefit of his creditors. ... We are clear that as between Howard, the assignee for the benefit of Shortlidge’s creditors, and the lady who became Shortlidge’s wife, the right of the latter to Shortlidge’s policy or the moneys payable upon it was the superior. Her claim to the policy is to be preferred to Howard’s because of the laches on the part of the latter.” But, notwithstanding the foregoing, the learned judge was of the opinion that it would be inequitable to award the proceeds of the policy to the administrator of Marie D. J. Shortlidge, deceased, because, as she had died intestate, leaving neither children nor creditors, her whole estate would pass to her husband, and he ought not to be allowed to receive the money as against his assignee for the benefit of creditors. In this reason we cannot concur, and, in refusing to adopt it, need only say that the title of the deceased to the policy was absolute, and passed to her administrator, now the Fidelity Insurance, Trust & Safe Deposit Company. The proceeds of the policy belong to her estate, and, under the intestate laws, pass to her husband through her administrator, subject to his assignments since her death and the attachments issued against him, as if he had never owned the policy and his wife had acquired the title to it through a stranger. The right of her administrator to receive the money is a legal one, and to it payment must be made, With a decree awarding the proceeds of the
The policy was abandoned by the assignee; there was cause for its abandonment, and there was a right to abandon it. The decree of the court below is, therefore, reversed, and it is now ordered, adjudged and decreed that the Provident Life & Trust Company pay to the Fidelity Insurance, Trust & Safe Deposit Company, administrator of Marie Dixon Jones Shortlidge, deceased, the sum of $7,022.11, with interest at two peícent, from October 18, 1900, less the costs incurred by it in the proceedings below, in which is to be included an attorney’s fee of $50.00, and, upon such payment, it is discharged from all liability upon its policy No. 70,934, issued May 18, 1897 ; each party in the proceeding below to pay his or her own costs, the costs on this appeal to be paid by Garrett E. Smedley, the substituted assignee.