Berk v. United States

JUDD, District Judge.

DECISION

This is a suit on a National Service Life Insurance policy, in which the United States is merely a stakeholder. The real contest is between the veteran’s mother, plaintiff in the action, and his second wife, one of the defendants. The children by his first wife and his first wife are also defendants.

The evidence produced at the trial makes certain facts quite clear, though it leaves the critical issue, the actual intention of Berk, the insured veteran, as a close issue for the court’s decision. The burden of showing that a change of beneficiary was intended rests…