Modern Woodmen of America v. Watkins

• Decision Date: 23 December 1942
• Docket Number: No. 10350.,10350.
• Citation: 132 F.2d 352
• Parties: MODERN WOODMEN OF AMERICA v. WATKINS. WOODMEN OF THE WORLD LIFE INS. SOC. v. SAME.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

132 F.2d 352 (1942)

MODERN WOODMEN OF AMERICA v. WATKINS.

WOODMEN OF THE WORLD LIFE INS. SOC. v. SAME.

No. 10350.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

December 23, 1942.

Walker Liddon, of Fort Pierce, Fla., Geo. G. Perrin and George H. McDonald, both of Rock Island, Ill., and Rainey T. Wells, of Omaha, Neb., for appellants.

R. K. Lewis, of West Palm Beach, Fla., and Dewey Crawford, of Fort Pierce, Fla., for Gertrude Watkins.

Before HUTCHESON, HOLMES, and McCORD, Circuit Judges.

McCORD, Circuit Judge.

Gertrude Watkins, as beneficiary, brought actions against Modern Woodmen of America, and Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society, to recover on two $5,000 policies of life insurance issued by these companies to her husband, Tom E. Watkins. On motion of the defendants the actions were consolidated for trial. The consolidated cases were then tried to a jury which found the issues in favor of the plaintiff. Judgments were entered on the verdicts, and the insurance companies have appealed.

The insurance companies defended the actions on the ground that Watkins committed suicide by taking potassium cyanide, a deadly poison. At the close of all the testimony, they moved for directed verdicts on the ground that suicide, a complete defense, had been conclusively established by the evidence. Overruling of the motion is assigned as error.

In the early morning hours of December 15, 1940, Tom E. Watkins was found in an unconscious condition, lying on his back in front of his parked automobile on the public highway ten miles west of Boynton, Florida. Within a short time thereafter he died. He had been drinking intoxicating liquors the day and night before his death; and Robert Sutton, who talked with him about forty-five minutes before he was found in the highway, testified that Watkins came to his nearby beer place early in the morning and inquired of his whereabouts, explaining "I have been drunk all night". The windows of his automobile were closed, and a can of potassium cyanide was found in the car in a paper sack. The lid was on the can, but a portion of the poison was missing. A post mortem examination of certain organs of the body revealed the presence of a small quantity of hydrocyanic acid, or cyanide, in the brain, which tended to show poisoning with potassium cyanide. There was evidence that Watkins used potassium cyanide about his farm and restaurant for the purpose of killing rats; that he was familiar with its poisonous qualities; that death might result from taking small amounts of the substance internally, from inhaling gasses from it, or from quantities working its way under the finger nails and into the tissues and blood stream of the body. It was further shown that Watkins had been drinking to excess for some time prior to his death, and that he was having financial troubles. His death was shrouded in mystery, and no one could state with certainty the circumstances of his passing. The evidence is wholly circumstantial.

It has long been established in cases of this kind that an insurer seeking to escape liability on the ground of suicide has the burden of proving that the death of the insured was self-administered with suicidal intent. New York Life Ins. Co. v. Miller, 65 App.D.C. 129, 81 F.2d 263; Home Benefit Ass'n v. Sargent, 142 U.S. 691, 12 S.Ct. 332, 35 L.Ed. 1160. The evidence in the case at bar does not conclusively establish suicide, but permits conflicting inferences, and fair-minded men might reasonably differ as to the manner and cause of the insured's death. On this record it cannot be said that the evidence established facts which exclude every reasonable hypothesis of death except by suicide. The evidence made an issue for the jury, and the court properly refused to direct verdicts for the defendants. Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Graves, 3 Cir., 25 F.2d 705; Tabor v. Mutual Life Ins. Co., 4 Cir., 13 F.2d 765; Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Williamson, 5 Cir., 174 F. 116; Equitable Life Assur. Soc. v. First Nat. Bank, 5 Cir., 40 F.2d 817.

It is shown that Errol S. Willes was a lawyer practicing at Fort Pierce, Florida, where Watkins lived; that he was also agent and manager for a small-loan company; that on the day preceding his death, Watkins went to the office of Willes and sought to borrow money and get a drink of whiskey; that Willes loaned Watkins $50.00 and took a drink with him, and they proceeded to discuss "some other...