''New England Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Woodworth'', 111 U.S. 138 (1884), was a
U.S. Supreme Court case.
The case
On September 21, 1869, Ann E. Woodworth took out a
life insurance
Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death ...
policy on herself with the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company in
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
. Her husband Stephen E. Woodworth was the beneficiary. She then died in
New York, and her husband moved to
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
. The company did not pay the policy, and he sued in Illinois. The Illinois court passed judgment against the insurance company. The insurance company appealed saying that the suit should not have been filed in Illinois.
The Supreme Court reaffirmed the general rule that
simple contract
In contract law, a ''simple contract'' is a contract made orally or in writing or both of them rather than a contract made under seal. Simple contracts require consideration to be valid, but simple contracts may be implied from the conduct of parti ...
debts, such as a policy of insurance not under seal, are, for the purpose of founding administration, assets where the debtor resides, without regard to the place where the policy is found.
Used as precedent
This case was used as a precedent in 8 SCOTUS cases and 21 cases by other courts. The SCOTUS precedent citations include:
* Southern Pacific Co. v. Denton (1892)
* Shaw v. Quincy Mining Co. (1892),
* Fitzgerald & Mallory Constr. Co. v. Fitzgerald (1890)
* Barrow SS Co. v. Kane (1898),
* In Re the Louisville Underwriters (1890)
* In Re Keasbey & Mattison Co. (1895)
* Equitable Life Assurance Soc. v. Brown (1902)
* Connecticut Mut. Life Ins. Co. V. Moore (1948)
Side effect of the case
The plaintiff, Stephen E. Woodworth, was both the Step-Father and Uncle of noted
entomologist
Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...
Charles W. Woodworth
Charles William Woodworth (April 28, 1865 – November 19, 1940) was an American entomologist. He published extensively in entomology and founded the Entomology Department at the University of California, Berkeley. He was the first person to breed ...
. C.W. Woodworth's mother became a widow and married her late husband's brother who was a widower. The judgment arrived when C.W. Woodworth was 19 and likely helped pay for his education at the
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
.
See also
*
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, wi ...
– acquired New England Mutual in 1996
*
List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 111
This is a list of cases reported in volume 111 of '' United States Reports'', decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1884.
Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 111 U.S.
The Supreme Court is established by ...
References
External links
*
*
1884 in United States case law
United States Supreme Court cases
MetLife
United States Supreme Court cases of the Waite Court
United States federal jurisdiction case law
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