Coleman v. Universal Life Ins. Co. of Memphis
| Decision Date | 14 November 1934 |
| Docket Number | 15067 |
| Citation | 157 So. 411 |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
| Parties | COLEMAN v. UNIVERSAL LIFE INS. CO. OF MEMPHIS, TENN |
Rudolph O. Vorbusch, of New Orleans, for appellant.
Normann & McMahon and Harold M. Rouchell, all of New Orleans, for appellee.
This is a suit by a beneficiary on a policy of industrial life insurance for the face value of the policy, or $ 190. The defendant company admitted the issuance of the policy and its liability for one-fourth of the amount claimed, making the following averment in that regard:
"And now further answering your respondent would show that under the terms of said policy and the condition thereof, the said plaintiff herein is entitled to the sum of Forty-seven and 50/100 ($ 47.50) dollars, being one-fourth of the face value thereof, which defendant has at various times tendered to the said plaintiff herein, but refused by him on each occasion and that no other liability attaches to respondent under the said policy contract, all as will be shown on the trial of this cause."
On the trial of the case plaintiff offered the policy and proof of the payment of premiums and of the death of the insured and rested his case, whereupon the defendant attempted to prove that the deceased, plaintiff's father, died of a chronic heart ailment. Plaintiff's counsel objected "to any offer of proof along the line of special defense, or limitation of liability hereon, on the ground that no specific policy provision of limitation has been pleaded, and further that no facts thereunder have been alleged, and, not being pleaded or alleged, cannot be gone into now." The objection was overruled and an attempt was made to show principally by means of a death certificate of the Board of Health, that the insured died from chronic heart trouble. The offer of the death certificate was objected to on the ground that the certificate was evidence only of the fact of death and not of the cause of death. Johnson et al. v. Sundbery (La.App.) 150 So. 299. This objection was sustained and the certificate excluded. The other evidence presented by defendant bearing upon the cause of the death of decedent was without any probative value.
There was judgment below in plaintiff's favor, as prayed for, and defendant has appealed.
In this court defendant and appellant complains of the ruling of the court excluding the death certificate and other rulings excluding evidence tending to show that the deceased died of chronic heart disease.
The policy sued on provides that it "shall be incontestable after two years from the date of its issue, except for fraud, misstatement of age, and for causes of death mentioned in Clause 12 under conditions hereof." The causes mentioned in clause 12 are of no interest here. The provision relied upon is found in clause 16 and reads as follows:
"If the death of the insured results directly or indirectly from consumption, tuberculosis, pellagra, disease of the heart or blood vessels, diabetes, nephritis, or any form of kidney disease, cancer, paralysis, or apoplexy, before this policy shall become incontestable, then only one-half of the minimum amount stated in the schedule above shall be due as a death benefit."
By reference to another provision of the policy the minimum death benefit is fixed at $ 95. The deceased died within...
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