Short

This is an action contesting a Veteran Administration’s ruling concerning the disposition of the proceeds of a National Service Life Insurance policy. Jurisdiction is invoked under Section 14 of the Insurance Act of 1946. 1

The facts were stipulated. They need be set out only briefly. Irving Short died in Japan on August 30, 1950. He had in effect a Ten Thousand Dollar ($10,000) policy of National Service Life Insurance. His mother, Ethel Short, was the principal beneficiary. She was not entitled to a lump-sum payment of the proceeds. Harvey Short, Irving’s brother, and Berkshire Industrial Farm of Canaan, New York were equal contingent beneficiaries: On September 25, 1950 Mrs. Short filed claim with the Veterans’ Administration for the proceeds of the policy. Mrs. Short died on June 14, 1951. The Veterans’ Administration did not receive the report of death of the insured it required from the State Department until July 3, 1951. Mrs. Short and her attorneys had previously sent to the Veterans’ Administration a telegram which she had received from the Adjutant General, Department of the Army, Washington, D. C., stating that her son Irving was dead. They had also sent a certificate…