Connecticut Mut Life Ins Co v. Lathrop

• Decision Date: 05 May 1884
• Citation: 28 L.Ed. 536,4 S.Ct. 533,111 U.S. 612
• Parties: CONNECTICUT MUT. LIFE INS. CO. v. LATHROP, Adm'r, etc
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

111 U.S. 612

4 S.Ct. 533

28 L.Ed. 536

CONNECTICUT MUT. LIFE INS. CO. v. LATHROP, Adm'r, etc.

May 5, 1884.

Jeff. Chandler, for plaintiff in error.

Wallace Pratt and Jeff. Brumback, for defendant in error.

HARLAN, J.

This is a writ of error from a judgment in favor of Helen Pitkin, the beneficiary in two policies issued by the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company upon the life of her husband,—one, on the tenth day of August, 1866, for the sum of $5,000; and the other, on the twenty-fourth day of September, 1873, for the sum of $423. The insured, George E. Pitkin, died on the twenty-ninth day of September, 1878. After the case came here, the beneficiary in the policies died, and there was a revivor against her personal representative. The defense was the same as to each policy. Briefly stated, it is this: That the policy expressly provides that in case the insured shall, after its execution, become so far intemperate as to impair his health, or induce delirium tremens, or should die by his own hand, it shall be void and of no effect; that, after its execution and delivery, he did become so far intemperate as to impair his health, and induce delirium tremens; also, that he died by his own hand, because, with premeditation and deliberation, he shot himself through the heart with a bullet discharged by himself from a pistol, by reason whereof he died. Further, that the affirmative answer by plaintiff, in her application for insurance, to the question whether the insured was then and had always been of temperate habits, being false and untrue, the contract was annulled, because, by its terms, the policy was to become void if the statements and representations in the application—constituting the basis of the contract between the parties—were not in all respects true and correct. The plaintiff, in her reply, put in issue all the material allegations of the answer, except that alleging the self-destruction of her husband; as to which she averred that, 'at the time he committed said act of self-destruction, and with reference thereto,' he 'was not in possession of his mental faculties, and was not responsible for said act.'

At the close of the evidence introduced for the plaintiff, the defendant, by counsel, moved the court to instruct the jury that upon the pleadings and evidence the plaintiff could not recover. That motion was denied, and the action of the court—to which the defendant at the time excepted—is assigned for error. This instruction, it is claimed, should have been given upon the ground that the evidence disclosed no symptom whatever of insanity upon the part of the insured. But that position cannot be sustained upon any proper view of the testimony. There certainly was evidence tending to show a material, if not radical, change for the worse in the mental condition of the insured immediately preceding his death. In the judgment of several who knew him intimately, and had personal knowledge of such change, he was not himself at the time of the act of self-destruction. Whether his strange demeanor immediately before his death was the result of a deliberate, conscious PURPOSE TO FEIGN INSANITY, SO AS THEREBY the more readily to defraud the company, was a matter peculiarly within the province of the jury to determine. If the refusal of the court to sustain the motion would have been error, had there been an entire absence of proof to sustain the plaintiff's suit, it is sufficient to say that there was evidence of a substantial character tending to show that the insured was insane when he took his life.

In Ins. Co. v. Rodel, 95 U. S. 238, where the question was made as to the duty of the court, on a motion by the defendant for a peremptory instruction based wholly on plaintiff's evidence, it was said that 'if there was any evidence tending to prove that the deceased was insane when he took the poison which caused his death, the judge was not bound to, and, indeed, could not properly, take the evidence from the jury. The weight of the evidence is for them, and not for the judge, to pass upon.'

The case clearly comes within the rule announced in Phoenix Ins. Co. v. Doster, 106 U. S. 32, S. C. 1 SUP. CT. REP. 18, that 'where a cause fairly depends upon the effect or weight of testimony, it is one for the consideration and determination of the jury, under proper directions as to the principles of law involved. It should never be withdrawn from them unless the testimony be of such a conclusive character as to compel the court, in the excercise of a sound legal discretion, to set aside a verdict returned in opposition to it.'

When the evidence was concluded on both sides the defendant submitted requests for instructions. Some of them were given and some refused, but it does not appear from the record which were given and which refused. As the exception which was taken related to the refused instructions, and since it does not appear which of them belonged to that class, none of the series asked by defendant can be noticed. We may, however, remark that the charge of the court, to which no exception was taken, embodied all of defendant's instructions that were applicable to the case, and which could properly have been given.

This brings us to the consideration of the substantial questions presented by the assignments of error. They relate to the admission, against the objections of the defendant, of certain evidence touching the condition of the mind of the insured at or about the time he destroyed his life.

Before the introduction of the particular testimony to which the objections related, there was, as we have already said, proof tending to show that Pitkin was not entirely sound in mind. Witnesses well acquainted with him remarked the unusually excited, wild expression of his face. A domestic in his family testified that 'he looked very wild and frightened out of his eyes; he looked like some one that was crazy.' Within a few hours before death he bade one witness, whose store he visited, good-bye, saying that he was 'going to a country where there is no return.' To another witness, on the same occasion, he appeared to be 'out of his head; kind of mad, insane.'

At this stage of the case one Strein was introduced as a witness for plaintiff. Pitkin was in his saloon about 11 o'clock of the day on which he took his life, and a few hours only before his death. So much of his examination (omitt ng the questions) as is necessary to a proper understanding of the objections made by plaintiff in error is here given: 'Answer. He asked for a glass of wine, and I gave it to him. He said he hadn't had a drink yet that day, or since the one he had last night from me,—that was a glass of wine. He said, 'I may look queer this morning or drunk to other people, but I ain't drunk.' He said, 'Some people may think me drunk, but I am not; I am not drunk in my body, but I am in my mind.' He looked unusual to me. He had on his old clothes, and his neck-tie was out of shape, his face was red, and his eyes staring at me, which made me think he was quite out of his usual way. His appearance and the look was quite different from his usual appearance prior to that time. He looked, in his face, quite red, and his eyes had quite another expression. He had them open wide, with a look that was wild, and he looked around the room awhile and walked up and down, and seemed very restless. He would not stand at one place like he usually did, but walked up and down. I spoke a few words after that, but I did not notice him very much, for I was very busy.' The witness being asked to state the impression made upon him by what he saw of Pitkin's condition, the defendant objected to the question as incompetent. But the objection was overruled, and an exception was taken. The witness answered: 'My impression was that he seemed to be quite out of his head that morning. I could not say the reason. I didn't know then anything about his disappointment; I found that out afterwards.'

Another witness, Mr. Ferry, an attorney at law, was introduced by the plaintiff. He saw Pitkin the morning of the day he killed himself. What occurred was thus stated by him: 'I came down Broadway, walking, and Mr. Pratt came down from his residence on Washington street, in a street car, and got out on the corner of Sixth and Broadway, and we went there in front of the office. Mr. Pitkin was standing very near the door, and as we passed up the stairway going to our office we both said, 'Good morning' to him, and Mr. Pratt says, 'Pit., why ain't you at church?' Mr. Pitkin said, 'I am not going to church, I am going to hell;' and we immediately passed on up stairs and into the doorway, but as we started up stairs Pitkin stuck his head into the door and says, 'Do you want to send any word to him?' Mr. Pratt says, 'To whom?' 'To the devil; I am going to hell,' and he turned immediately and went out of the door.' Being asked how Pitkin looked during that conversation, he said that 'he seemed very much agitated and nervous; his face was flushed; the pupil of his eye dilated and bright, and there was no expression in it.' Against the objections of defendant he was permitted to testify that the impression left on his mind, from the conduct, actions, manner, expressions, and conversation of Pitkin, was that 'he was crazy, and didn't know what he was doing.'

Exception was also taken to the action of the court in permitting the witness Aldrich to answer a certain question. He saw the deceased a few moments before his death, and observed that he 'looked strange;' had 'a very peculiar look,' one that he had never seen before. It was 'a wild look.' Being asked what impression Pitkin made upon him by his manner and conduct at the time, he answered,—the defendant's objection to the evidence being overruled,—'I thought he was out of his head.'

It is contended, in behalf of plaintiff in error, that the impressions and opinions of these non-professional witnesses as to the...