Insurance Company v. Brame

• Citation: 95 U.S. 754,24 L.Ed. 580
• Parties: INSURANCE COMPANY v. BRAME
• Decision Date: 01 October 1877
• Court: United States Supreme Court

95 U.S. 754

24 L.Ed. 580

INSURANCE COMPANY v. BRAME.

October Term, 1877

ERROR to the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Louisiana.

This is an action by the Mobile Life Insurance Company against Brame, to recover the sum of $7,000.

The plaintiff alleged that it insured the life of one Craven McLemore, a citizen of Louisiana, for that amount in favor of third parties; that on the 24th of October, 1875, while its policies were in force, Brame did, in the town of Delhi, in Louisiana, wilfully shoot said McLemore, and inflict upon him a mortal wound, from the effects of which he died on the twenty-sixth day of that month; that the shooting was an illegal and tortious act on the part of Brame, and caused damage to the plaintiff in the amount of the policies on the life of the deceased, which amount the plaintiff acknowledges to be due, and a part of which has been paid.

An exception of the defendant to the plaintiff's petition was sustained, and judgment rendered in his favor. The company then brought the case here.

The Revised Civil Code of Louisiana contains the following articles:——

'ART. 2314. Every act whatever of man that causes damage to another, obliges him by whose fault it happened to repair it; the right of this action shall survive, in case of death, in favor of the minor children and widow of the deceased, or either of them, and in default of these, in favor of the surviving father or mother, or either of them, for the space of one year from the death.'

'ART. 2316. Every person is responsible for the damage he occasions, not merely by his act, but by his negligence, his imprudence, or his want of skill.'- 'ART. 2324. He who causes another person to do an unlawful act, or assists or encourages in the commission of it, is answerable in solido with that person for the damage caused by such act.'

Mr. Charles E. Fenner for the plaintiff in error.

The authorities agree that a man is responsible for any direct damage to another, resulting from his unlawful act. 1 Chitty on Plead., 125-130, 147; 1 Hilliard on Torts, 97; Field on Damages, sect. 599; Scott v. Shepherd, 2 Black., W. 892; R ynolds v. Clarke, Stra. 635; Salsbury v. Hershinroder, 106 Mass. 458; Smith v. Rutherford, 2 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 358; Mott v. Hudson River Railroad Co., 8 Bosw. (N. Y.) 345; and particularly Ricker v. Freeman, 50 N. H. 420.

For the purposes of this case, it stands admitted that the act of defendant was unlawful; and it would be difficult to conceive of a more direct consequence than the damage done to the plaintiff. The damage is not only direct, but it is also a certain pecuniary loss, thoroughly appreciable in dollars and cents, according to scientific life-tables, which have been frequently recognized by the courts as proper standards in estimating such damage. Field on Damages, sect. 632; Rowley v. London Railroad Co., 8 Law Rep. Ex. 221; David v. Southwestern Railroad Co., 41 Ga. 223; Donaldson v. Mississippi Railroad Co., 18 Iowa, 280; Blake v. Midland Company, 18 Q. B. 93.

Hubgh v. New Orleans & Carrollton Railroad Co., 6 La. Ann. 495, and Hermann v. Carrollton Railroad Co., 11 id. 5, are confined to actions for damages by relations of the deceased, and neither by their terms nor reasons extend to this action.

The amendment to art. 2294, now 2314, of the Civil Code of Louisiana does not affect the case, because it only applies to the right of action of the injured party for the damage done to him, and provides that the right, in case of his death, shall survive in favor of certain relatives.

Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. New York & New Haven Railroad Co., 25 Conn. 265, relied upon by the other side, is entitled to no greater weight as authority than results from the mere force of its reasoning. The present case is governed by the law of Louisiana, which differs from the common law and from that of Connecticut.

A contract of life insurance is similar to a valued policy of fire or marine insurance. The insurer who has paid the loss has in either case the right to recover from the tortious destroyer of the thing insured.

Under the law of Louisiana, which does not differ from the French law in this particular, the right of action of the plaintiff results directly to him without the intervention of any doctrine of subrogation.

Arts. 2314, 2316, and 2324 of the Revised Civil Code of Louisiana fully sanction this action, unless excluded by some authoritative interpretation of them. There has been no such interpretation by the courts of Louisiana which applies either in terms or reasons to this case.

Mr. John H. Kennard, contra.

It is the general rule that a party is not liable civiliter for taking human life, or for any damages resulting therefrom. Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. New York & New Haven Railroad Co., 25 Conn. 265. The exceptions to this rule under the Civil Code of Louisiana have no relation to any other parties than the relatives of the deceased.

MR. JUSTICE HUNT delivered the opinion of the court.

The argument of the insurance company is that the killing of the deceased was an injury to or violation of a legal right or interest of the company; that, as a consequence thereof, it sustained a loss, which is the proximate effect of the injury.

The answer of the defendant is founded upon the theory that the loss is the remote and indirect result merely of the act charged, that at the common law no civil action lies for an injury which results in the death of the party injured, and that the statutes of Louisiana upon that subject do not include the present case.

The authorities are so numerous and so uniform to the proposition, that by the common law no civil action lies for an injury which results in death, that it is impossible to speak of it as a proposition open to question. It has been decided in many cases in the English courts and in many of the State courts, and no deliberate, well-considered decision to the contrary is to be found. In Hilliard on Torts, p. 87, sect. 10, the rule is thus laid down: 'Upon a similar ground it has been held that at common law the death of a human being, though clearly involving pecuniary loss, is not the ground of an action for damages.' The most of the cases upon the subject are there referred to. Baker v. Bolton et al., 1 Camp. 493; Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. New York & New Haven Railroad Co., 25 Conn. 265; Kramer v. Market Street Railroad Co., 25 Cal. 434; Indianapolis, Pittsburg, & Cleveland Railroad Co. v. Kealy, 23 Ind. 133; Hyatt v. Adams, 16 Mich. 180; Shields v. Yonge, 15 Ga. 349; Peoria Marine & Fire Insurance Co. v. Frost, 37 Ill. 333. The only cases that tend to the contrary of this rule, so far as we know, are Cross v. Guthery, 2 Root (Conn.), 90, Plummer v. Webb, Ware, 69, and Ford v. Monroe, 20 Wend. (N. Y.) 210. They are considered by the New York Court of Appeals in Green v. The Hudson River Railroad Co., 2 Keyes (N. Y.), 294, and compared with the many cases to the contrary, and are held not to diminish the force of the rule as above stated. In that case, the plaintiff alleged that, on the ninth day of January, 1856, his wife was a passenger on the defendants' road, and by the gross carelessness and unskilfulness of the defendants a collision occurred, by means of which his wife was killed, 'whereby he has lost and been deprived of all the comfort, benefit, and assistance of his said wife...