Equitable Life Ins. Co. of Iowa v. Hebert
| Decision Date | 21 February 1906 |
| Docket Number | No. 5,560.,5,560. |
| Citation | 76 N.E. 1023,37 Ind.App. 373 |
| Parties | EQUITABLE LIFE INS. CO. OF IOWA v. HEBERT et al. |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from Circuit Court, Allen County; E. O'Rourke, Judge.
Action by Oliver Hebert and others against the Equitable Life Insurance Company of Iowa. From a judgment in favor of plaintiffs, defendant appeals. Affirmed.
P. B. Colerick and Guy Colerick, for appellant. Breen & Morris, for appellees.
Appellees sued upon a policy of insurance issued upon the life of Oliver J. Hebert, on December 8, 1902. The assured was found dead July 28, 1903. The policy contained a provision “that, should the assured within two years from date thereof take his own life, whether sane or insane, any policy issued thereon should become void, and all payments made thereon should be forfeited to said company.” The sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict, the excluding of certain testimony offered, and the giving of a certain instruction, are the only questions argued by appellant's counsel.
Self-destruction cannot be presumed from the mere fact of death in an unknown manner. The strong instinctive love of life and the uniform efforts of men to preserve life will not permit a presumption of suicide, where death may have resulted from accident or mistake. Appellees were entitled to recover, unless appellant has by competent evidence overcome this presumption. If the facts are such that death might have resulted from accident, mistake, or suicide, the presumption is against suicide. If the accused committed suicide, the law was against appellees, because the policy by its terms did not cover self-destruction, whether the assured at the time was sane or insane. As the defense of suicide was relied upon, the burden of proving it was upon the appellant. See Travelers' Ins. Co. v. McConkey, 127 U. S. 661, 8 Sup. Ct. 1360, 32 L. Ed. 308;Leman v. Manhattan Ins. Co., 46 La. Ann. 1189, 15 South. 388, 24 L. R. A. 589, 49 Am. St. Rep. 348;Walcott v. Metropolitan L. Ins. Co., 64 Vt. 221, 24 Atl. 992, 33 Am. St. Rep. 923;Supreme Council, etc., v. Brashears, 89 Md. 624, 43 Atl. 866, 73 Am. St. Rep. 244;Meadows v. Pacific Mutual, etc., Ins. Co., 129 Mo. 76, 31 S. W. 578, 50 Am. St. Rep. 427;Streeter v. Western Union Mut. Acc. Soc., 65 Mich. 199, 31 N. W. 779, 8 Am. St. Rep. 882;Cronkhite v. Travelers' Ins. Co., 75 Wis. 116, 43 N. W. 731, 17 Am. St. Rep. 184;Mallory v. Travelers' Ins. Co., 47 N. Y. 52, 7 Am. Rep. 410;Hale v. Life Indemnity, etc., Co., 61 Minn. 516, 63 N. W. 1108, 52 Am. St. Rep. 616.
The defense was that the assured took carbolic acid with suicidal intent. The deceased was found dead on the bank of a railroad right of way, lying on his back at full length, his feet crossed at the ankles, one hand at his side and the other across his breast. In his vest pocket was a small vial containing carbolic acid, the contents of which were about half gone; and near or under the body was a large bottle containing a solution of carbolic acid and water. The appearance of the face did not indicate that there had been any severe pain preceding death. There was a post mortem examination held, and the testimony of the physicians was directly contradictory as to the presence of carbolic acid in the stomach, as was also the evidence as to whether the mouth showed the use of carbolic acid. There is evidence that the assured had some pimples on his face, and that his mother had advised him to wash it with a solution of carbolic acid; that on the morning of his death he went to a drug store and purchased 10 cents worth of carbolic acid, secured a large bottle, and filled it with a mixture of the acid and water; that the day on which he died was an excessively warm day; that he had received a sunstroke a few weeks before he died; and that his physical condition was such...
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