Kopetovske v. Mutual Life Ins.

Citations

• 187 F. 499
• 111 C.C.A. 265
• 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 4188

Syllabus

<p>1. Insurance (§ (568*) — Life Insurance — Assignment—Insurable Interest — Questions for Jury.</p> <p>Decedent having obtained two life insurance policies payable to his executors, administrators and assigns, assigned both to his nephew B., and thereafter decedent and B. again assigned the policies to plaintiff bank as security for a loan. Decedent was unmarried and bad no relatives in the United States. He was associated in business and lived in the same house with B., constituting a part of his family, but the nature of their business relation, whether partners or otherwise, was not shown. Decedent employed a lawyer to look after his affairs down to the time of his death which occurred when he was 51 years old. Held, that such assignment did not constitute a wager as a matter of law, on the theory that B. had no insurable interest in decedent’s life, since whether B. had reasonable ground to expect pecuniary advantage from decedent’s continued existence was for the jury.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Insurance, Dec. Dig. § 668.*</p> <p>What constitutes an insurable interest in human life, see note to Manhattan Life Ins. Co. v. Hennessy, 39 G. C. A. 632.]</p> <p>2. Insurance (§ 122*) — Ltfe Insurance — Assignment—Insurable Interest.</p> <p>A moral, as distinguished from a legal, obligation resting on insured to render a pecuniary benefit or advantage to an assignee of certain life policies, was sufficient to confer on such assignee an insurable interest.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Insurance, Cent. Dig. §§ 166, 167: Dee. Dig. § 122.*]</p>