This is an action of contract upon an account annexed for insurance premiums, alleged by the plaintiff to have been paid on behalf of the defendant. The answer is a general denial, payment, and the further answer that the defendant “never entered into a contract with the plaintiff for any insurance; that if he entered into any contract for insurance, as alleged, it was with one Richard Buntin for a definite period of time which elapsed prior to the dates charged in the declaration.” At the close of all the evidence the defendant moved in writing that a verdict be directed in his favor; the motion was denied and the defendant duly excepted. The plaintiff also moved in writing that a verdict be directed in its favor in the sum of $71 — the amount of the account annexed ($61) and interest ($10). The judge allowed the plaintiff’s motion and directed a verdict for the plaintiff in the sum of $71. The defendant duly excepted to the allowance, the ruling and the order.
The material facts which the jury might reasonably find are as follows: On March 8, 1924, a special accumulative accident insurance policy was issued to the defendant by the Travelers Insurance Company, through the agency of one Richard W. Buntin. The policy ran for a term ending September 8, 1924, and a “Rider” contained the following provision: “For the term of Six months beginning on that date [September 8, 1924] the premium for the renewal of this Policy and Rider shall be $15.25.” Buntin died in 1924, and one Dwight R. Woodford took over his insurance business, including the policy on account of the defendant.
Evidence for the plaintiff was to the effect that the “renewal” premium due September 8, 1924, came in on November 9, 1924, after Buntin’s death, and was collected by the plaintiff as agent for Buntin and credited to his account; that the premiums due March 8, 1925, and September 8, 1925, were paid to Woodford; that the premium due March 8, 1926, was paid to Woodford; that the premium due September 8, 1926, was not paid; that some
There was evidence for the plaintiff that Buntin was agent for the insurance company when the policy was written; that Woodford was agent for the insurance company when he took over Buntin’s business through an assignment from the executrix of Buntin’s estate; that the assignment “purported to assign all the clientele of Mr. Buntin to . . . [him] for the purpose of continuing their insurance in force”; that Woodford after Buntin’s death did business under the name of Dwight R. Woodford and Company; that when Woodford’s agency expired he turned over to the corporation which then had been formed under the name of Dwight R. Woodford Co., Inc., the right to renew the policy of Johnson; and that the corporation took over his (Woodford’s) personal insurance business. The plaintiff put in evidence two renewal receipts issued by the
The first contention of the defendant in support of his motion for a directed verdict is based upon the established rule of law that an agent of a known principal cannot sue in his own name upon the breach of a contract made by such agent in behalf of his principal, citing Borrowscale v. Bosworth, 99 Mass. 378. See Buffington v. McNally, 192 Mass. 198, 202. The short answer to this argument is that the plaintiff seeks to recover in this action, not upon a debt due or to become due to its principal, but in its own right upon a promise of the defendant, express or implied, to reimburse the plaintiff for money paid at the request of the defendant. To this possible statement of the plaintiff’s position (it has made no oral argument nor filed any brief) the defendant answers that he made no express request that Buntin should obtain a new policy or a renewal of the old policy upon its expiration. He contends that, if he did have an agreement with Buntin for the renewal of the policy, which contemplated the possible
It is manifest that the defendant had the right to select and determine what agency should care for his policy and look after the renewal payments of premiums as they should become payable; Boston Ice Co. v. Potter, 123 Mass. 28; but the principle of that case is not applicable where the personality of a person delivering goods or otherwise rendering service to a person is a matter of indifference. Lunn & Sweet Co. v. Wolfman, 256 Mass. 436, 442, and cases cited.
Enough has been said to disclose that a real question of fact was before the jury on the issue whether there was a custom in insurance circles for the agent to take charge of the renewal of insurance policies of the kind issued to the defendant, and as to whether the defendant expected Buntin, and the agency which took over the defendant’s policy after Buntin’s death, to attend to that matter. The motion for a directed verdict for the defendant was denied rightly.
The allowance of the motion for a directed verdict for the plaintiff was error, for the following among other possible reasons disclosed by the record: (1) The credibility of the principal witness for the plaintiff was a question for
Exceptions sustained.
