156 Mo. App. 30 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1911
This is a suit in equity upon and-for the reformation of a benefit certificate, and, as to defendant Finney, to the end, as well, of restraining him .from collecting the entire fund vouchsafed in the certificate. Defendant, Supreme Council, answered by way of a bill of interpleader, asserted it was a mere stakeholder of the fund of $2000. and that both plaintiff and its co-defendant, Finney, claimed portions thereof. It therefore prayed permission to pay the fund into court and that the court require the parties to litigate the matter between themselves. After the Supreme Council was discharged in accordance with its prayer, the court .found the issue for plaintiff, and defendant Finney .alone prosecutes the appeal.
It is unnecessary to determine whether the case is properly one of interpleader as the two claimants, •plaintiff and defendant Finney, agreed it was and stipulated that the court should discharge defendant Supreme Council upon its paying the fund into court and permitting them to litigate their claims thereto. The controversy in the cause, therefore, relates alone to the claim of plaintiff pertaining to $1'000 of the insurance money and the claim of defendant Finney to nearly or about all of the same amount, for, by the same stipulation above mentioned, it was agreed that Finney should' -have $1600 of the fund on which plaintiff made no claim
The facts out of which the controversy arises are as follows: The Supreme Council of Catholic Knights Of America was in 1881, and has at all times since been, a mutual benefit society doing business in this state and plaintiff’s grandfather, Patrick D. Sage, was a member of that order. In 1881, Patrick D. Sage became a member of the order referred to and it issued to him his certificate of insurance, payable at his death to his wife, Catherine Sage, in an amount of $2000, but stipulated that the beneficiary, therein might be changed at any time in accordance with the directions of the insured. Sage paid all of the assessments and dues thereon for a period of some thirteen years, until 1894, when, because of advancing years and decrepitude, he found himself unable to conveniently further continue such payments. Defendant, Alexander Finney, was a member of .the same order, and it appears that he and Sage belonged to the same local council No. 99 in the city of St. Louis. Upon Sage finding it inconvenient to further continue payment of his assessment and dues, he entered into an arrangement with defendant, Finney, to the effect that Finney should assume and discharge that duty until his death and receive $1009 of the proceeds of the insurance thereafter. In accordance with this arrangement, Sage surrendered his benefit certificate to the local council No. 99, of the order of which the two parties were members, and directed that a new one for the full amount of $2000 be issued payable to defendant Alexander Finney. But, as part of this transaction and in consideration thereof, Finney agreed that he would' act as agent for Catherine Sage, the wife of the insured, and in event of her prior death, then as agent for this plaintiff, in collecting $1000 of such insurance and in paying
The bill seems to proceed upon the theory the contract of August 29, 1894, by which Sage and Finney agreed that Finney should collect the entire fund and pay $1000 to plaintiff was the last clear manifestation of the intention of the insured as to who should be the beneficiary of so much of his bounty and that as it was fully known and accepted by the order, in requiring such writing to be deposited With the secretary of its local council, the court will effectuate such intention by reforming the certificate and declaring plaintiff a beneficiary for one-half the amount thereof. It is unnecessary to examine this feature of the case or to express an opinion thereon, as defendant, Finney, does not combat the theory suggested, but asserts, notwithstanding, he has a clear right to be compensated to the extent he paid the dues and assessments and for accumulated interest thereon because of the superior and better equities which prevail in his favor. The argument advanced by. Finney is, that though he was a competent beneficiary under the laws of the order at the time the contract was made and though it was made in good faith by both parties, it is nevertheless wholly void as against public policy, for the reason he is a stranger without any insurable interest in the life of the deceased, and the contract is, therefore, ineffectual in so far as it purports to limits his right to $1000 of the fund.
While one may insure his own life, paying premium thereon himself, in favor of another who has no insurable interest therein, as was said in Locher v.
However, our statute, Section 7119, Revised Statutes 1909, pertaining to benefit societies provides that no contract under which a beneficiary may pay the member’s assessments shall give the beneficiary a vested right in the benefit certificate; but be this as it may, the statute is without influence here for it was enacted in 1897, Laws of Missouri, 1897, p. 132, and the rights of these parties, whatever they áre, accrued in 1894.
In view of the fact that the writing between Finney and Sage, of date August 29, 1894, stipulates a definite sum of $1000 as the amount payable to the latter in consideration of his paying the future dues and assessments, it is argued for him that the entire contract with respect to that matter is void as against public policy and, therefore, no more operates a limitation upon his right to recover beyond that amount than it did upon the right of Catherine Sage, had the insured died within a few days thereafter, to recover the entire insurance, less such premiums and interest thereon as he had paid at the time. It is insisted that because he was induced to invest his means in paying the dues and assessments under such invalid contract while acting-in the utmost good faith, the precepts of natural justice alone require that he should be recompensed from the fund which he thus maintained until maturity; for, it is said, though the contract be void at law, it is nevertheless sufficiently valid as a basis for the accrual of
Though it be that an invalid contract affords no -grounds for an estoppel unless it has been fully executed by the parties, it is true as well that one may -not both claim under and against the same deed. One may not appropriate to himself rights, such as the -equities asserted here, which accrue alone from the contract and at the same time deny the efficacy of the undertaking with respect to the rights of an adversary. If a person predicate his cause, as does Finney here, on a right accruing to him under a contract, he is estopped from denying such portions thereof as are against his interest and this is true though such portion be invalid, for he must take it cum onere or not at all. He is es-topped from assuming such inconsistent positions. For -an application of the principle where one has accepted the benefits of an invalid contract, see Morris v. Hall, 41 Ala. 510, 536, 537. In Robinson v. Pebworth, 71 Ala. 240, 247, the doctrine is stated to be that though the transaction is illegal one may not claim both under and against the same title. So where one accepts the benefits of an invalid mortgage, it is determined that he is estopped to thereafter assert its invalidity. [Horton v. Davis, 26 N. Y. 495.] The identical principle finds application too and is illustrated in numerous instances where it appears persons have accepted benefits under invalid judicial proceedings, for it is said they may not thus accept the benefits of the judgment and dispute its validity. One must not be inconsistent in the positions he assumes and if he claims the benefits of such invalid proceedings, he is thereafter estopped to assert their invalidity. [Hoffmire v. Holcomb, 17 Kan. 378; Babitt v. Corby, 13 Kan. 612; Pursley v. Hays, 17 Iowa 310; Lee v. Gardiner, 26 Miss. 521.] For applications of the general principle to one claiming both under and against the same deed, see Jacobs v. Miller, 50 Mich. 614, 615; Swanson v. Tarkington, 7 Heisk. (Tenn.) 612,
The judgment should therefore be affirmed. It is so ordered.