Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/79/285/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 10:41:13+00:00

Document:
1. The rules laid down in <|9 Wall. 125|>Norris v. Jackson, 9 Wall. 125, and in <|9 Wall. 428|>Flanders v. Tweed, 9 Wall. 428, and in the preceding case of Kearney v. Case, supra, <|79 U.S. 275|>275, as to the mode of finding the facts by the court (waiving a jury), under the Act of March 3, 1865 (relative to the trial of issues of fact in civil causes), and as to the effect to be given to such finding, and the manner in which the record is to be prepared for this and the extent of the inquiry to be made in this Court, again set forth in detail.
2. Under that act, when on a suit on a policy of insurance the question was whether a waiver of a payment in cash of the premium had or had not been made, held in a case where the court found on the evidence as a fact that it had been waived, that the correctness or incorrectness of a series of requests which were founded on an assumption that it had not been were not subject to review here under the act.
3. Where an insurance company instructed its agents not to deliver policies until the whole premiums are paid, "as the same will stand charged to their account until the premiums are received," and the agent did nevertheless deliver a policy giving a credit to the insurer and waiving a cash payment, held that the company, it being a stock company, was bound.
Error to the Circuit Court for the District of Maryland, the suit being one by Mrs. H. Miller against the Brooklyn Life Insurance Company to recover $5,000, insured by her husband, Walter Miller, for her benefit on his own life.
"Agents must not deliver policies until the whole premiums are paid, as the same will stand charged to their accounts until the premiums are received or the policies returned to the office."
"Agents are not authorized to make, alter, or discharge contracts, waive forfeitures, name an extra rate for special risks, or bind the company in any way; their duties being simply to obtain applications for insurance, to collect and transmit premiums, and generally to be the medium of communication between the policyholder and the company."
"Agents are not authorized to write the receipt of premium, or make any endorsement whatever on the policy. The president or secretary are alone authorized to sign receipts for premiums on the part of the company. When a receipt is delivered to a policyholder by an agent, such agent must countersign the same as an evidence of payment to him."
"Statement required from persons proposing to effect assurance in this company, and which forms the basis of the contract."
"It is agreed by the undersigned . . . that the policy of assurance hereby applied for shall not be binding upon this company until the amount of premium as stated therein shall have been received by said company or some authorized agent thereof during the lifetime of the party therein assured."
"Send the policy to me, with the notes, and call on Solomon Scott for the cash part. He has just promised me that he will pay it."
This Scott had been a partner in business and was a particular friend of Miller's.
The application was forwarded by the agents to the home office in New York, and in the course of a week the policy was received by Dutcher & Fasset. Miller in the meantime had gone to Maryland.
"You will find enclosed the yearly note and the six months' note, both of which you will please to sign and return us by mail. The cash payment we will get of Scott when the time arrives."
"In consideration of the representations and agreement contained in the application therefor, and of the sum of $254.85 to them in hand paid, and of the annual premium of $254.85, to be paid on or before the 21st of June in each year during the continuance of this policy."
on or before the day herein mentioned for the payment thereof, or any note or notes which may be given to and received by said company in part payment of any premium &c. . . . then this policy shall cease and be null, void, and of no effect."
"Agents are not authorized or permitted to waive, alter, or change any of the provisions of this policy."
as no policy is IN FORCE until PAID for.
Dutcher & Fasset, as the evidence went strongly to show, frequently gave credit for the cash payment in the case of persons whom they knew would pay when called on, and in this case they sent the receipt because, as one of them testified, they had "confidence that they could get the money at any time they called for it."
Scott had promised to pay it, and there was no allegation anywhere of fraud.
The following correspondence now took place.
"[Dutcher & Fasset to Miller]"
"ST. LOUIS, July 23, 1868"
"DEAR SIR: The last of the month we make our report according to custom, and last evening, going home, I (the writer) called in the store and found our friend Scott intending to start East on Monday. I suggested to him that he should pay your cash part of premium as you suggested to me, but he would not listen to it at all; so we depend on you for it, the amount being $86.26, made up as follows:"
"For which amount please send me check on New York."
"[Miller to Dutcher & Fasset]"
"REESE'S CORNER, MARYLAND, August 3, 1868"
"GENTLEMEN: In reply to yours of the 23d, I regret that Mr. Scott did not do as he promised you. I did not solicit or ask him to pay the note. He told you that he would pay you the note. Had he not told you, I should have provided for the amount long since. I have about sixty dollars on hand. Will get the $86.26 and send to Baltimore and purchase a draft on New York, and have it sent in a day or two."
"Hoping that all things will be all right in a few days, I am,"
"REESE'S CORNER, MARYLAND, August 18, 1868"
"DEAR GENTS: I shall ship some wheat tomorrow to Messrs. Cox & Brown, Baltimore, and will direct them to send you a draft on New York for $86.26. I regret the delay, and hope it may never occur again. Shall be in St. Louis this fall. Will make arrangements to have all my notes paid at maturity."
"ST. LOUIS, September 10, 1868"
"DEAR SIR: Your several letters have been received, the last, under date of August 18th, in which you remark, 'I shall ship wheat tomorrow to Messrs. Cox & Brown, Baltimore, and will instruct them to send you a draft on New York for $86.26.'"
"The draft has never been sent, or it has never come to hand. Now, sir, we are fearful you will lose your policy if payment is not made soon. Give it your attention at once, if you please; and as it has been running so long, you will have to add the interest, which will be $1.34, making the amount to be remitted $87.60."
"ST. LOUIS, October 14, 1868"
"DEAR SIR: We learn from Mr. Scott that you are quite sick. As you have not paid your cash payment on your life policy in the Brooklyn, you must be aware that the policy is forfeited, and we now enclose you two notes for part payment of the premium.
It has now been standing for four months beyond the time of payment."
"You will please return the policy to us. The writer regrets very much to hear of your illness, and hope you may speedily recover."
"DUTCHER & FASSET, General Agents"
"The finding of the court upon the facts, which finding may be either general or special, shall have the same effect as the verdict of the jury. The rulings of the court in the progress of the trial, when excepted to at the time, may be reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States upon a writ of error or upon appeal, provided the rulings be duly presented by a bill of exceptions. When the finding is special, the review may also extend to the determination of the sufficiency of the facts found to support the judgment."
to the directions of the said general agents executed and remitted to them the premium notes provided for, and that Miller died in October, 1868, and that the defendant refused to pay the insurance money, solely upon the ground that the policy was not in force; and further shall find that neither at the time of said application for insurance nor at the time said policy was sent to or received by said Miller did the said general agents demand immediate payment of the cash premium, but on the contrary agreed to call upon Solomon Scott for such case premium when to them it should seem proper so to do; and said agents waived the payment of said cash premium for several months, and treated the said policy as an executed contract, then, if the court so find, the plaintiff, by her counsel, prays the court to render its verdict and judgment for the plaintiff, even though it should further find that the said cash premium was never in fact paid."
"The court finds all the facts stated in the above prayer, and orders judgment to be entered for the plaintiff for the sum of $5,013, and costs."
1st. That if Dutcher & Fasset never intended to waive the payment of the cash portion of the premium, and if deceased did not believe that said payment was intended to be waived, there was in law no waiver of it.
2d. If the deceased knew that Dutcher & Fasset had no authority to deliver the policy without payment of the cash portion of the premium, there was no waiver.
3d. If Dutcher & Fasset's authority was such as stated above, the defendant was not bound by their delivery of the policy without payment of the premium.
4th. That the facts, if true, as stated in the testimony in reference to the application for insurance, the correspondence between Miller and Dutcher the sending of the policy and receipt to Miller, and the receipt of the notes by Dutcher & Fasset, showed that there was no waiver.
5th. That all the facts in reference to the subject, in evidence, if true, showed there was no waiver.
The court refused thus to rule, but found that the payment of the cash premium was waived, and gave judgment in the way already mentioned.
On the twenty-fifth of June, 1868, the defendants insured the life of the husband of the plaintiff in the amount of five thousand dollars for the term of his natural life, "with participation of profits." Part of the premium, to-wit, the sum of two hundred and fifty-four dollars and eighty-five cents was required by the rules of the company to be paid at the time the policy was delivered, and the policy recites that the plaintiff paid that sum to the defendants in hand, and the policy also states that the insured agreed to pay them a like sum on or before the twenty-first of June in each year during the continuance of the policy, and that the defendants, in consideration of those sums and of the representations and agreements contained in the application, promised and agreed to pay the plaintiff, or in case she should die before her husband, to pay the sum insured to her heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, within sixty days after due notice and proof of the death of the person whose life is therein insured. Process was issued and served, and the defendants appeared and pleaded the general issue that they never promised in manner and form as alleged in the declaration, and the issue tendered was joined by the plaintiff. Errors in pleading were waived, and the parties filed a stipulation in writing that the issues of fact should be tried by the court without the intervention of a jury, and agreed that every defense admissible under any special plea should be admitted under the general issue. Evidence was introduced on both sides and the court rendered judgment for the plaintiff in the sum of five thousand and thirteen dollars and twenty-five cents, and the defendants sued out a writ of error and removed the cause into this Court.
the failure of the court to comply strictly with the requirements of the act of Congress which provides that issues of fact in civil cases may be tried and determined by the court without the intervention of a jury. Where a jury is waived, as therein provided and the issues of fact are submitted to the court, the finding of the court may be either general or special, as in cases where an issue of fact is tried by a jury, but where the finding is general the parties are concluded by the determination of the court, except in cases where exceptions are taken to the rulings of the court in the progress of the trial. Such rulings, if duly presented by a bill of exceptions, may be reviewed here even though the finding is general, but the finding of the court, if general, cannot be reviewed in this Court by bill of exceptions or in any other manner.
By the express words of the act, the finding may be general or special, but if general, it is final and conclusive between the parties unless the court which tried the case shall grant a new trial or the judgment shall be reversed in the appellate court for some erroneous ruling made in the progress of the trial which is duly presented by a bill of exceptions. Whether the finding is general or special, the rulings of the court in the progress of the trial, if excepted to at the time and duly presented by a bill of exceptions, may be reviewed in this Court, and in a case where the finding is special, the review may also extend to the determination of the question whether the facts found are sufficient to support the judgment.
the same whenever they should deem it proper so to do, and that the policy was delivered to the applicant and became operative under that arrangement.
Policies, as the defendants proved, were required to be issued by the officers of the company, and could not be legally executed by the ordinary agents. All such agents could do in the outset was to prepare the application, have it duly executed, and transmit it to the home office, and it appears that they did so in this case and that they received a policy in return duly executed. Whereupon they enclosed the policy, with the two notes for the credit portion of the premium, to the decedent, who promptly signed the notes and enclosed the same in a letter addressed by mail to the persons from whom the notes, with the policy, were received. In their letter to the decedent enclosing the policy, the agents say, "the cash payments we will get of Scott when the proper time arrives." They subsequently called upon that person for the cash premium, but he refused to pay it as he had agreed to do with the decedent, and the agents thereupon gave notice of his refusal to the applicant for the policy and requested him to make the payment. He acknowledged the receipt of their letter and promised to procure a draft for the amount and send it to them in a few days, but he did not send the draft, and the agents wrote him again informing him that the draft had never come to hand, and expressing their fears that if the payment was not made soon he would lose his policy, adding that the payment had been delayed so long that he would have to add interest to the premium, amounting to one dollar and thirty-four cents. Payment being still neglected, and the agents having learned from Scott that the person insured was "quite sick," they informed him by letter that his policy was forfeited, and enclosed to him the two notes given for the credit portion of the premium, but the letter did not "reach his home" till after his death.
was received by the company or the policy was returned to the office. Evidence to that effect was also given by one of the agents who delivered this policy, but he admitted that it was their custom in some cases not to call for the money at the time from parties with whom they were well acquainted, and when asked on cross-examination what they meant by saying, in their letter enclosing the policy to the applicant, that they would get the cash payment of the person named when the proper time arrived, he admitted that they sometimes gave the receipt before they received the money, and that they had confidence in this case that they could get the money on call.
(1) That the evidence showed that the agents never intended to waive the prepayment of the cash premium, and that the applicant for the policy did not believe that they intended to make any such waiver, and that the defendants, if the court so find, are not liable in this action.
(2) That if the court so find, and that the applicant knew that the agents had no authority to deliver the policy without such payment, then there was no waiver of that requirement and the defendants are entitled to judgment.
(3) That if the court believe from the evidence that the authority of the agents was such as is shown in their instructions, then the defendants are not bound by the act of the agents in delivering the policy without such payment, and the plaintiff cannot recover.
(4) That the facts given in evidence, as recited, show that there was no waiver of that requirement, as is supposed by the plaintiff.
(5) That the facts testified to by the two witnesses examined under the commission, if true, show that the agents of the defendants did not waive the payment of the cash premium.
of fact were tried and determined by the circuit court, and the act of Congress provides that the finding of the circuit court in such cases shall have the same effect as the verdict of a jury, and the Constitution provides that no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States than according to the rules of the common law. [Footnote 2] Facts so tried could only be reexamined, under the rules of the common law, either by the granting of a new trial by the court where the issue was tried or to which the record was returnable, or by the award of a venire facias de novo by an appellate court for some error of law which intervened in the proceedings. [Footnote 3] Matters of fact found by the circuit court under such a submission cannot be reexamined here, as by the express language of the act the review, when the finding is general, is confined to the rulings of the court in the progress of the trial, and even when the finding is special, nothing else is open to review except the inquiry whether the facts found are sufficient to support the judgment.
Testimony as to a conversation between the agent of the defendants and the person designated by the applicant to pay the cash premium was introduced by the plaintiff, subject to the objection made by the defendants, but it is not necessary to examine that objection, as the testimony was subsequently stricken out at the defendants' request.
"the court finds all the facts stated in the above prayer, and orders judgment to be entered in the above prayer, and orders judgment to be entered for the plaintiff"
in the sum therein specified.
Throughout the trial, it was conceded by the plaintiff that the cash premium was never paid, but she insisted that the requirement that it should be paid before the delivery of the policy was waived by the general agents of the defendants, and the prayer presented by her counsel embodied most or all of the evidence introduced to prove that theory. Omitting unimportant words, it was to the effect following: that if the court shall find that the application was made by the husband of the plaintiff through the general agents of the defendants, and that the defendants thereupon executed the policy and sent it to their general agents, and that the latter, upon the receipt of the policy, forwarded and delivered the same by mail to the applicant, who, in obedience to the directions of the said general agents, executed and remitted to them the premium notes as provided in the policy, and that the person whose life was insured died at the time alleged, whereof the defendants received notice prior to the institution of the suit, and refused to pay the sum insured solely upon the ground that the policy was not in force, and shall further find that said general agents did not demand immediate payment of the cash premium, neither at the time of the application nor at the time the policy was sent to or received by the person whose life was insured, but agreed with him to call upon the person named in the evidence for the same when to them it should seem proper so to do, and that said general agents waived the payment of said cash premium for several months, and treated the policy as an executed contract, then the plaintiff is entitled to judgment.
question raised by any special finding. Beyond all doubt they show a waiver, and it may be proper, in view of the circumstances, to remark that the evidence reported in the record, if it could be reexamined, is even more persuasive and convincing to that effect than the statement of the plaintiff or the finding of the circuit court.
Evidence of the most convincing character is reported showing that it was the custom of the agents to give credit in certain cases to persons with whom they were well acquainted and knew to be responsible, and not to call for the money at the time the policy was delivered; and one of the instructions given to such agents affords a strong presumption that the custom was known to the company, as the instruction states that agents must not deliver policies until the whole premiums are paid, as the same will stand charged to their account until the premiums are received or the policies are returned to the office. Such evidence, however, cannot be reexamined, as this Court is confined to the special finding and the rulings of the circuit court.
Conditions, it is sometimes said, cannot be waived even by a general agent, but the decisive answer to that suggestion in this case is that the policy, when properly construed, does not contain any absolute condition that it shall not attach or be operative unless the cash premium is first paid by the insured, and in the absence of any such positive condition in the policy, it is not necessary to enter upon a discussion of that topic.
2 Story on the Constitution § 1770.
<|2 Pet. 448|>Parsons v. Bedford, 2 Pet. 448; 2 Story on the Constitution § 1770.
<|9 Wall. 127|>Norris v. Jackson, 9 Wall. 127.
<|1 Wall. 102|>Burr v. Des Moines Co., 1 Wall. 102.
Boehan v. Insurance Co., 35 N.Y. 131.
Goit v. Insurance Co., 25 Barbour 189; Sheldon v. Atlantic F. & M. Insurance Co., 26 N.Y. 460; Wood v. Insurance Co., 32 id. 619; Bragdon v. Insurance Co., 42 Me. 262; Trustees v. Insurance Co., 18 Barbour 69; S.C., 19 N.Y. 305.
Whitaker v. Insurance Co., 29 Barbour 319; Post v. AEtna Insurance Co., 43 id. 351; Com. M. Ins. Co. v. Union M. Ins. Co., 19 How. 323.

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