Hamilton v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 04 December 1944
• Docket Number: 30590.
• Citation: Hamilton v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 71 Ga.App. 784, 32 S.E.2d 540 (Ga. App. 1944)
• Parties: HAMILTON v. METROPOLITAN LIFE INS. CO.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

32 S.E.2d 540

71 Ga.App. 784

HAMILTON v. METROPOLITAN LIFE INS. CO.

No. 30590.

Court of Appeals of Georgia, Division No. 1.

December 4, 1944

Orrin Roberts, of Monroe, and Clint W. Hager, J. F. Kemp, and J. D Tindall, all of Atlanta, for plaintiff in error.

Victor Smith and Smith, Smith & Bloodworth, all of Atlanta, and J. C. Knox and A. Morris Kelly, both of Monroe, for defendant in error.

MACINTYRE Judge.

1 [1-3]. This is an action on a life insurance policy which contained the following provision: "Suicide:--If the insured, within two years from the date of issue hereof, dies by his own hand or act, whether sane or insane, the liability of the company hereunder shall be limited to an amount equal to the premiums which have been received, without interest." It might be noted that no question of double indemnity for accidental death is involved. The defendant Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, denied any liability to the beneficiary on the ground that the beneficiary's husband, Hugh G. Hamilton, committed suicide within two years from the date of the issue of the said policy. There was no question as to the payment of premiums so as to keep said policy in force and effect, but the defense of the company was based solely on the fact that on account of the above-stated condition in the policy, there could be no recovery thereunder except as to the premiums paid, and it was admitted by the plaintiff that a tender of said premiums paid, in the amount of $65, had been made by the defendant to the plaintiff prior to the bringing of the suit. After evidence had been offered by the plaintiff and the defendant, as disclosed by the brief of evidence filed in this case, the defendant made a motion for a directed verdict limiting the liability of said company to the sum of $65. The plaintiff moved for a new trial, her motion was overruled, and she excepted.

The evidence was to the following effect: That the insured was registered as a guest at the Bankhead Hotel in Birmingham Alabama, on Saturday night, September 6, 1941. On that night between 12 and 1 o'clock the room clerk at the hotel, Roy W. Cole, received a long distance telephone call from Mrs. Hamilton, the plaintiff, who was in Atlanta, Georgia asking if something was the matter with her husband. She stated in that telephone conversation that her husband had just called her, and she wanted somebody sent up to his room to see about him. The room clerk sent a bellboy to the room; he immediately called the clerk to come up to the room himself. When the clerk entered the room, he found Mr. Hamilton lying on the floor in part of his underclothes, and there was blood on the floor. He called the hotel telephone operator and told her to get the "law" and to call an ambulance. He thereupon washed Mr. Hamilton's face. Mr. Hamilton wanted water, and the clerk got some for him, "but he did not seem to be able to take the water very well." The clerk saw the policeman find a razor blade in the room. The bellboy, who first entered the room, found Mr. Hamilton lying on the floor and a circle of blood on the rug where his arms had been bleeding. He noticed a cut on his wrist but did not notice whether or not both wrists were cut. However, other positive evidence showed that both wrists, as well as the arm, of Mr. Hamilton had been cut by a sharp instrument. Police officers H. S. Newman and A. E. Joy answered the police call sent out by the hotel and went to the room of Mr. Hamilton. Officer Newman testified that he found Mr. Hamilton on the floor; that he had been bleeding and both wrists and the left elbow were slashed as if with a razor blade. There was a razor blade lying on the telephone stand or the dresser right by it. The officer stated that he asked Mr. Hamilton if he wasn't afraid he was going to die, and Mr. Hamilton answered him saying that he wasn't, that he had tried before and didn't die. Officer A. E. Joy, who went to the room with Officer Newman, stated that they found Mr. Hamilton lying on the floor with both wrists and one arm cut; that the floor was bloody; that Mr. Hamilton's body was half naked and bloody; that the cuts were anywhere from one to two inches long; that they found a Gem razor blade on the telephone stand just up over the body; and that the razor blade was bloody. J. L. Purdy, one of the ambulance attendants that carried Hamilton to the hospital, stated that when they arrived at the hotel room they found Mr. Hamilton lying on the floor with cuts or lacerations on both wrists or arms; that he was bleeding and the only clothing he wore was an undershirt, and that there was a considerable amount of blood on the carpet, which he estimated at approximately a half-gallon. Officer Norrell, a detective of the police department of Birmingham, who was on duty at the hospital at the time Hamilton arrived, testified that Mr. Hamilton was drinking or drunk and unruly and rowdy. He further stated that both wrists and the left arm of Mr. Hamilton had been cut by a sharp instrument. He further stated that he noticed some other scars on Mr. Hamilton's wrists, apparently cuts made with a knife, or razor, or some instrument across each wrist. He further stated that it was very difficult to handle Mr. Hamilton; that he tried to get off the operating table and that it took several to handle him; that he assisted in strapping Mr. Hamilton on the operating table. (Italics ours.) Officer Darnell was also on duty at the hospital with the witness Norrell. He stated that Mr. Hamilton was intoxicated and boisterous; that he talked with Mr. Hamilton, and Mr. Hamilton said something about his wife--a call to his wife; that he inferred that he had had some trouble with his wife, and that he had made a long distance call from the hotel to his wife; that he [Darnell] checked with the hotel and ascertained that Mr. Hamilton had made a call to Atlanta. Dr. Bonney, who was on duty when Mr. Hamilton arrived at the hospital testifying in behalf of the plaintiff, said: That Mr. Hamilton came into the hospital with wounds on both wrists, on his forearm, and on the left arm, and that they were bleeding; that his condition evidenced that blood had been lost; that Mr. Hamilton was not co-operative; that his death was caused by peripheral vascular collapse due to hemorrhage; that that meant a cessation of the function of the circulatory system due to the loss of blood; that he attempted to inject fluids into Mr. Hamilton's veins but could not do it, because Mr. Hamilton would not quiet down. The certificate of death showed the probable cause of death as suicide, and the proof of death also showed the probable cause of death as suicide. Furthermore, there was no evidence to show that any one was in the room with Mr. Hamilton at the time his wrists and arm were cut. The evidence further showed that prior to the time he went to the room he was under the influence of liquor.

At the beginning of the trial there was a legal presumption against death by suicide, and the insurance company had the burden of rebutting this presumption by evidence. "The fact of suicide must be established by a preponderance of the evidence, but the presumption against it is not conclusive and will vanish upon proof of physical facts clearly inconsistent therewith." Gem City Life Ins. Co. v Stripling, 176 Ga. 288, 290, 168 S.E. 20, 21. If credible evidence of self-destruction or suicide is offered, whether in the course of the plaintiff's or the defendant's proof, the presumption against suicide as a rule of law disappears from the case; this leaves the issue of suicide open, and the trior of facts passes upon the issue in the usual way. Thus the defendant in the instant case must establish the fact of suicide by a preponderance of evidence, which is the usual rule...