Cammack v. Lewis
Supreme Court of the United States
Appeal from the Supreme Court for the District of Columbia; the case being thus: One John E. Lewis, of 'Washington, D. C., beihg in bad health and owing by note $70, which he was not then able to pay, to a certain C. Cammack, Jr., tailor, for clothing, procured June 19th, 1868, at Cammack’s suggestion, an insurance on his life, in the New Jersey Mutual Life Insurance Company, which had an agency in Washington, for $3000.. The policy, No. 2885, was for seven years.
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Appeal from the Supreme Court for the District of Columbia; the case being thus: One John E. Lewis, of 'Washington, D. C., beihg in bad health and owing by note $70, which he was not then able to pay, to a certain C. Cammack, Jr., tailor, for clothing, procured June 19th, 1868, at Cammack’s suggestion, an insurance on his life, in the New Jersey Mutual Life Insurance Company, which had an agency in Washington, for $3000.. The policy, No. 2885, was for seven years. Cammack paid the premium for the first year; and immediately after the policy was made out, Lewis gave to Cammack a note for…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Miller
If the transaction as set up by Cammack be true, then, so far as he was concerned, it was a sheer wagering policy, and probably a fraud on the insurance company. To procure a policy for $3000 to cover a debt of $70 is of itself a mere *648wager. The disproportion between the real interest of the creditor and the amount to be received by him deprives it of all pretence to be a bond fide effort to secure the debt, and the strength of this proposition is not diminished by the fact that Cammack was only to get $2000 out of the $3000; nor is it weakened by the fact that the policy was taken out in the…
2Cited by5 opinions
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