Mcnamara v. Metro. Life Ins. Co.
| Decision Date | 25 April 1946 |
| Docket Number | No. 3.,3. |
| Citation | 46 A.2d 798,134 N.J.L. 231 |
| Parties | McNAMARA v. METROPOLITAN LIFE INS. CO. |
| Court | New Jersey Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from Supreme Court.
Action by Catherine McNamara against the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company to recover double indemnity under life policy. From a judgment of the Supreme Court, 133 N.J.L. 48, 42 A.2d 464, which reversed a judgment of the district court in favor of plaintiff, 23 N.J.Misc. 49, 40 A.2d 615, the plaintiff appeals.
Judgment of Supreme Court affirmed.
Syllabus by the Court.
A policy of life insurance provided for doubled death benefit if death was ‘caused solely by external, violent, and accidental means', excluding, however, cases of death as ‘the result of participation in an assault or felony.’ Deceased became involved in a quarrel which led to a fight with a stranger who struck a fatal blow. Held, that double recovery was properly denied; first, because deceased was a participant in an assault: and, secondly, because the ‘means' of death were not accidental.
John F. Lynch, Jr., of Jersey City, for appellant.
John P. Nugent, of Jersey City, for respondent.
The determinative question in this case is whether there should have been a double recovery on the theory ‘that the death of the insured’ resulted, independently of all other causes, from bodily injuries caused ‘solely by external, violent, and accidental means.’ The trial court awarded the double recovery, but the Supreme Court reversed (133 N.J.L. 48, 42 A.2d 464) and the plaintiff appeals.
We think the Supreme Court was entirely right not only on the ground which it invoked, but also on another ground. What happened in regard to the death was that the deceased, in the act of sitting at the counter in a restaurant, sat on a package which belonged to another man who happened to be a pugilist. The pugilist protested and the insured assaulted the pugilist in the restaurant. The proprietor put both men out and they finished their fight on the sidewalk. The fight ended with a blow by the pugilist which resulted in the death of the deceased.
The policy provides that there shall be no double indemnity if the death is the result of participation in an assault or felony. The Supreme Court seems to have relied on this clause, and we think properly, but we think also that an affirmance may well be rested on the further ground that while death was due to external and violent means, it was not due to any accidental...
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