OCR Text |
Show IMPORTANT DECISION War Risk Insurance, that is, term or contract insurance, issued by the Government as a war-time measure under the provisions of the War Risk act, is payable to. the beneficiary designated de-signated by the insured, but should this beneficiary die the installments 'of insurance becoming payable r' ter his death shall be distributed in like manner as the estate of the insured, in-sured, descending to the pel-1' heirs and not to the heirs of the beneficiary ben-eficiary no- matter whether a will may have been executed by that hen-efic hen-efic i yarotthem mfmtm hthertrtrtr eficiary to the contrary. This is the substance of the decision deci-sion handed down by Federal Judge! Whitmer in the case of Oassarelln, vs United States recently tried in the District Court of the United States. Scranton, Penn. Lawrence Siegle. while in service in the United States Army, applied for $10,000 insurance designated as beneficiary "stepbrother Patsy Gil-ette." Gil-ette." The insured died October 29. 19181 The beneficiary died. He left a will naming Savino Cassarello as executor execut-or of his estate, empowered to collect col-lect the War Risk insurance installments install-ments which had accrued, as well as those which should become duo and to transact these future installments install-ments to the beneficiary's wife and daughter. To effect this the executor brought action against the United States. As to the installments which had 'accrued prior to the beneficiary's death and remaining-unpaid at that time, there was no dispute. Thev passed pas-sed according to- the beneficiary's will as they were already due the beneficiary's benefi-ciary's estate. The contest had to do with the Installments not. yet pay- able when the beneficiary died and it was claimed by the executor that Ihese also were a part of the beneficiary's benefi-ciary's estate. The Court, however, decided, and thereby upheld an opinion of the Gen eral Counsel of the Bureau of War Risk insurance, that a beneficiary under the War Risk act is entitled to insurance installments only so lone as be lives and thereafter the insurance insur-ance installments must be dislril--ed to those persons surviving the soldier who would he entitled to the soUlier's estate under the laws of in-lestancy in-lestancy of the soldier's State of residence. res-idence. a |