Malone v. Cohn’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 federal appellate · 2 district ·

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Nothing in the terms of the statute, especially when they are considered in the light of the circumstances of its enactment, indicates that it had any other purpose or effect than to deny to anyone other than the assured himself the power to defeat a direction by him to pay to his personal representative, or to his widow, or to his children, or to his assignee, the money payable in a life policy issued to him. The provision does not' purport to make every such direction by the assured irrevocable by him, or to invalidate a stipulation in a life policy giving the assured, the right to change the beneficiary at any time during the continuance of the policy. The statute puts a direction by the assured to pay to his widow on the same footing as one to pay to his assignee. If a policy is assigned as security for a debt which the assured pays during his life, certainly the statute is not to be given the effect of putting it out of the power of the assured to changé the beneficiary upon the reassignment of the policy to him by the satisfied creditor. Nothing in its terms justifies giving it a different operation or effect in the case of a direction to pay to the widow. We are not of opinion that the provision quoted had the effect of conferring on the bankrupt’s wife, as the result of her having been named as the beneficiary, a vested and indefeasible interest in policies by the terms of which the beneficiaries could be changed by the bankrupt at any time.” And we approve its concl”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Cohn v. Malone

2. “The assured may direct the money to be paid to his personal representative, or to his widow, or to, his children, or to his assignee; and upon such direction given, and assented to by the insurer, no other person can defeat the same. But the assignment is good without such assent.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Cohn v. Malone

3. ““The failure of the policy to provide expressly for a present cash surrender value does not have this effect, if, in fact, it has such a value by the concession or practice of the company issuing it.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Richter v. Rockhold