## Facts

- Stewart S. Minnick owned one farm parcel and co-owned another as a tenant in common with his sister, Mary Nelson.
- Chad P. Johnson rented the farmland from Minnick and Nelson.
- Johnson arranged to buy a life insurance policy on Minnick’s life to fund a future purchase of the rented land.
- In January 2007, Johnson and Minnick executed a written buyout agreement requiring Johnson, upon Minnick’s death, to purchase the farmland at a specified price, funded by insurance proceeds.
- Johnson owned and was beneficiary of a $500,000 policy on Minnick’s life issued in March 2007 after a joint application.
- Minnick died about five years later; the land value had increased substantially.
- The insurer paid policy proceeds to Johnson, who tendered the proceeds to the estate’s personal representative, but the estate refused to convey the farmland.
- Johnson sued seeking specific performance and damages for breach of the buyout agreement.

## Issues

1. Whether Johnson had an insurable interest in Minnick’s life under Nebraska law sufficient to support a policy owned by Johnson and used to finance a land-purchase agreement.
2. Whether the buyout agreement was specifically enforceable when it was structured around a life insurance policy void for lack of insurable interest.
3. Whether Johnson’s alternative claim for contract damages was barred by the statute of limitations.

## Decision

- The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for the estate.
- The court held the buyout agreement was not specifically enforceable because Johnson lacked an insurable interest in Minnick’s life and the agreement was closely connected to an insurance arrangement prohibited by statute and public policy.
- The court held Johnson’s damages claim was time-barred under the applicable limitations period.
- The court rejected the notion that the estate lacked standing to raise the insurable-interest illegality as a defense to enforcement.
- The court affirmed on grounds supported by the record, even though the district court relied on different reasoning.

## Legal Principles

- A person procuring insurance on another’s life must have a lawful and substantial interest in the insured’s continued life; an interest arising only upon, or increased by, the insured’s death is insufficient and renders the policy void.
- Contracts founded upon or intimately connected with a statutory violation or public policy violation are unenforceable, including through equitable remedies such as specific performance.
- An appellate court may affirm summary judgment on any ground supported by the record, even if different from the trial court’s rationale.
- Contract damages claims remain subject to statutes of limitation; untimely claims are barred even when pleaded as an alternative to equitable relief.

## Conclusion

The court refused to order conveyance of the farmland because the buyout agreement was structured around a life insurance policy void for lack of insurable interest, and it also denied monetary recovery because the damages claim was filed outside the limitations period.


Johnson v. Nelson, 290 Neb. 703, 861 N.W.2d 705 (Neb. 2015)