Christopouls v. Mut. Benefit Health & Accident Ass'n
| Decision Date | 06 October 1941 |
| Docket Number | No. 6.,6. |
| Citation | 299 Mich. 308,300 N.W. 99 |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
| Parties | CHRISTOPOULS v. MUTUAL BENEFIT HEALTH & ACCIDENT ASS'N. |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Action by Louis Christopoulos against the Mutual Benefit Health & Accident Association, as beneficiary in an insurance policy issued by defendant to John A. Skourlas. From a judgment for plaintiff, the defendant appeals.
Reversed and remanded with directions.
Appeal from Circuit Court, Wayne County; Frank Day Smith, judge.
Argued before the Entire Bench.
Clifford M. Toohy, of Detroit, for appellant.
C. A. Tsangadas, of Detroit, for appellee.
Plaintiff, as beneficiary in an insurance policy issued to John A. Skourlas by defendant company, following the death of the insured, brought this suit to have recovery of the insurance.
The insured was a cook, employed by a lunch company and, while lifting to the top of a stove a 30-gallon kettle filled with liquid, his right foot slipped on the greasy floor, then his left foot slipped, his legs spread apart and he fell to the floor and the kettle, with its contents, fell on top of him causing bruises, contusions of the abdominal muscles and injury to the peritoneum and intestines, and the force of the kettle falling upon him resulted in the development of a bilateral inguinal hernia. This was on December 3, 1938. On January 14, 1939, he was operated on for the hernia and, five days later, died of postoperative paralysis of the large bowel. For 37 days following the accident he continued to work in the course of his employment.
Defendant is a mutual benefit health and accident association and, in May, 1937, insured John A. Skourlas ‘against loss of life, limb, sight or time, resulting directly and independently of all other causes, from bodily injuries * * * through purely Accidental Means * * * and against loss of time * * * subject, however, to all the provisions and limitations hereinafter contained’.
The policy also provided: ‘Any loss caused by or resulting in or from hernia, * * * will be paid for only as provided in parts K and L.’ Parks K and L provide illness indemnities only.
Plaintiff's declaration did not count on liability under parts K and L, and his counsel at the hearing stated to the court that plaintiff was ‘entitled to the death benefit or nothing’. The declaration set up the policy of insurance in full, stated the accident as above described and that it resulted in a bilateral inguinal hernia, and operation and death of the insured.
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