Cooper

Statement of the Case

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment rendered on the pleadings in favor of defendant insurance company. The issue in dispute is whether or not an insurance company, as insurer under a group life insurance policy, is discharged from all claims where it pays the proceeds of such policy to the person who had been last designated as the beneficiary by the now deceased employee, after the deceased’s employer had received oral notice of a claim adverse to the last designated beneficiary.

*913 The Complaint

The complaint, including the first and second amendments thereto, alleged in substance as follows: Fred H. Cooper and Ella Cooper were the parents of Fred H. Cooper and Clayton Cooper, ages 19 and 11 years, respectively; Ella Cooper is the guardian ad litem of said minors; on March 18, 1961, Fred H. Cooper (hereinafter referred to as the deceased-insured) and Ella Mae Cooper entered into a property settlement agreement wherein the deceased-insured agreed that the group life insurance policy maintained by his employer, C. G. Hokanson Company, Inc., and written by defendant United Benefit Life Insurance Company would be kept in force and effect, and…