Johnston

This action was submitted to the court upon stipulated facts which may be briefly summarized as follows: Liberar do A. Vasquez was an employee of the Southern Sierras Power Company at El Centro, California. As such employee and in connection with certain group insurance, he held two certificates of insurance on his life, one for one thousand dollars and the other for five hundred dollars. These certificates named Fred Kearns, the substituted defendant herein, as beneficiary. Vasquez died about noon on March 31, 1928, at El Centro. At the time of his death the records of the insurance company showed the said Kearns as beneficiary under each of said certificates. The policies contained the following provisions in reference to beneficiaries:

He delivered the first of said instruments to the manager of the Southern Sierras Power Company for mailing to the insurance company and the said manager caused the same to be forthwith mailed to the insurance company at New York City, where it was received by the company in due course. However, the said manager knew of the death of Yasquez before the letter was mailed. It was further stipulated as follows:

After this suit was brought the…