Citations 111 U.S. 138 (more) End date 1884 | Majority Samuel Blatchford | |
Full case name New England Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Woodworth, Adm'r etc. Ruling court Supreme Court of the United States | ||
New England Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Woodworth 111 U.S. 138 (1884) was a U.S. Supreme Court case.
Contents
The case
On September 21, 1869, Ann E. Woodworth took out a life insurance policy on herself with the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company in Michigan. Her husband Stephen E. Woodworth was the beneficiary. She then died in New York, and her husband moved to Illinois. 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 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.
Side effect of the case
The plaintiff, Stephen E. Woodworth, was both the Step-Father and Uncle of noted entomologist Charles W. Woodworth. 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.