Lockwood v. New York Life Insurance

Headnote

Lockwood v. N. Y. Life Ins. Co., 175 App. Div. 24 , affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment, -entered December 21, 1916, upon an order of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the first judicial department, reversing a judg

ment in favor of plaintiff entered upon a decision of the court at a Trial Term without a jury in an action upon a policy of life insurance. The defendant alleged that the insured, after some negotiations with the company in regard to a surrender of his policy wrote a letter to an officer of the company containing the following: “ Therefore I will thank you to send me a check for the surrender .value of my policy, less my loan from the Company.” That thereupon and after the receipt of said letter from said Canfield said defendant duly canceled said policy on its records as surrendered for its cash surrender value and there and then made its check for the amount of said cash surrender value less the amount of sai'd loan on said policy, and duly sent the same to said Canfield, who died before receiving the check. His executor sued to recover the face value of the policy less the loan. The Appellate Division held that by the letters which passed between the parties, namely, upon the request of Canfield, an offer made by the company ánd an acceptance in writing by him, followed immediately by the action of the company in drawing its check and canceling its policy, there was a complete novation and that the executor can only recover upon the new contract voluntarily entered into in his lifetime by his decedent.