Finegan v. Prudential Ins. Co. America

FIELD, Justice. This is an action of contract brought against an insurance company on seven insurance policies, in each of which the plaintiff was named as beneficiary, issued by the defendant on the life of the plaintiffs husband, John C. Finegan, who died June 16, 1935. The defendant filed a petition of interpleader under G.L.(Ter.Ed.) c. 231, § 40, in which it admitted liability for the amount claimed in the declaration, alleged that this amount was claimed by Samuel Cabot, Inc., and that the defendant had no interest in the subject matter of the controversy, and petitioned the court to order said Samuel Cabot, Inc., herein referred to as the claimant, to be made a defendant. See Dixon v. National Life Ins. Co., 168 Mass. 48, 49, 46 N.E. 430. The original defendant paid into court the sum of $21,979.40, the undisputed amount of its liability under the policies. The claimant answered claiming the entire fund by virtue of assignments of the policies, and, in the alternative, the sum of $7,153.51, the amount -- as the parties have agreed -- paid by the claimant between February 20, 1929, and February 21, 1935, as premiums and interest on loans on the policies.