REYES ARIDA CONTE, CROSS-PETITIONER,
v.
CONFEDERATION LIFE ASSOCIATION, A CANADIAN CORPORATION, CROSS-RESPONDENT
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The Florida Supreme Court reversed a District Court decision that had converted a life insurance policy's face value from US dollars to Cuban pesos. The Court held that because Cuba withdrew from the International Monetary Fund Agreement, Cuban monetary laws no longer had extraterritorial effect in Florida, and the policyholder could recover the $4,000 face value in US dollars as originally promised.
The Court held that the policyholder is entitled to recover the $4,000 face value in United States dollars as originally contracted. Because Cuba withdrew from the International Monetary Fund Agreement, Cuban monetary laws no longer have extraterritorial effect in the United States, and the policy's original terms in US dollars remain binding.
[1] Cuban monetary laws enacted after a policy's issuance requiring payment in pesos only are not given extraterritorial effect in the United States after Cuba's withdrawal f…
[2] Where an insurance policy specifies payment in United States dollars, beneficiaries may recover the face amount of the policy in United States dollars, notwithstanding su…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“beneficiaries under a life insurance policy issued in Cuba to a Cuban National could recover the face amount of the policy in the United States in United States dollars”
Establishes the controlling precedent from de Lara that supports recovery in US dollars rather than peso conversion
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceConfederation Life Association issued a twenty-year endowment life insurance contract to a Cuban national in Cuba specifying that all sums payable wou…
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This cause came before us on petition and cross-petition for writ of certiorari to *131review the decision of the District Court of Appeal, Third District, reported at 254 So.2d 45. The petition was denied without argument by Order dated April 4, 1972, 261 So.2d 177 (Fla.), and the cause retained for argument on the cross-petition.
Cross-petitioner questions the action of the District Court in reversing the trial court’s award of $4,000.00 United States dollars, the face value of a twenty-year endowment contract issued by petitioner in Cuba. In reversing the portion of the judgment expressed in United States dollars for the plaintiff, the District Court stated:1
“On remand judgment for plaintiff for the matured value of the policy should be expressed in a dollar value equivalent to the proper conversion rate from pesos.”
The foregoing holding of the District Court was rendered prior to this Court’s decision in de Lara v. Confederation Life Association,2 and is in conflict therewith. In de Larcij we held that beneficiaries under a life insurance policy issued in Cuba to a Cuban National could recover the face amount of the policy in the United States in United States dollars. In de Lara, as in the instant case, the policy provided that all sums payable under the policy “shall be paid in lawful currency of the United States of America.” However, some years after the policy in the instant case and the one in de Lara were issued, Cuban monetary laws were enacted which required that all policies be payable in pesos only.
The Cuban monetary laws were held binding and effective in this country in Confederation Life Association v. Ugalde,3 because of the International Monetary Fund Agreement. But Cuba withdrew from the International Monetary Fund Agreement effective April 2, 1964. Thereafter, this Court in Confederation Life Association v. Vega y Arminan,4 approved the decision of the District Court of Appeal, Third District,5 holding that since Cuba had withdrawn from the International Monetary Fund Agreement, Cuban laws would no longer be given extra-territorial effect under the terms of the Bretton Woods Agreement.
Accordingly, certiorari is granted^and that portion of the District Court’s opinion reversing the award of the face value of the policy in United States dollars, is quashed and the cause remanded with directions to reinstate the trial court’s award in the amount of $4,000.00.
It is so ordered.
ROBERTS, C. J., and ERVIN, CARLTON, ADKINS, McCAIN and DEKLE, JJ., concur.
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Citator
Cited By
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Brickell BAY Club Condo. Ass'n, Inc. v. Hernstadt, 512 So. 2d 994 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987)…re forbidden by statute or ordinance or which are contrary to public policy. State ex rel. Schwartz v. City of Hialeah, 156 So. 2d 675 (Fla. 3d DCA 1963); Confederation Life Ass’n v. Conte, 254 So. 2d 45 (Fla. 3d DCA 1971), quashed on other grounds, 272 So. 2d 130, cert. denied, 410 U.S. 959, 93 S.Ct. 1422, 35 L.Ed.2d 693. Estoppel is an equitable doctrine which is applied only where to refuse its application would be virtually to sanction the perpetration of a fraud. McAllister Enterprise Inc. v. McAllister…
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Confederation Life Ass'n v. Alvarez, 276 So. 2d 95 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973)…1972, 257 So. 2d 42, and Confederation Life Association v. Vega y Arminan, Fla.1968, 211 So. 2d 169, approving Confederation Life Association v. Vega y Arminan, Fla.App.1968, 207 So. 2d 33. See also Conte v. Confederation Life Association, Fla.1972, 272 So. 2d 130. Affirmed as modified. REED, C. J., and OWEN, J., concur. WALDEN, J., concurring in part, and dissenting in part with opinion.…
Authorities Cited
- Confederation Life Ass'n v. Leandro Goiricelaya Ugalde, 164 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 1964)
- Confederation Life Ass'n v. Arminan, 207 So. 2d 33 (Fla. 3d DCA 1968)
- Confederation Life Ass'n v. Manuel Antonio Vega y Arminan, 211 So. 2d 169 (Fla. 1968)
- Confederation Life Ass'n v. Reyes Arida Conte, 254 So. 2d 45 (Fla. 3d DCA 1971)
- de Lara v. Confederation Life Ass'n, 257 So. 2d 42 (Fla. 1971)
- Spohrer v. Elliott, 261 So. 2d 177 (Fla. 1972)
- Robinson v. State, 261 So. 2d 177 (Fla. 1972)