Case ID: ny_289/html/0070-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Per Curiam.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Elizabeth Wolfson, Appellant, v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Respondent.
    Argued June 18, 1942;
    decided July 29, 1942.
    
      
      Harris Jay Griston and Alexander Schwartz for appellant.
    Whether the death was due to the accident of a fall on the slippery, icy sidewalk, or to a purported heart condition presented a question of fact for the jury. (Sagendorf v. Prudential Ins. Co., 249 App. Div. 687; MacNair v. Commercial Travelers Ins. Co., 249 App. Div. 732; 275 N. Y. 630; Slavin v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 249 App. Div. 805; Breese v. Fidelity & Casualty Co., 247 App. Div. 850; Thurber v. Commercial Travelers Ins. Co., 51 App. Div. 608; Wachtel v. Equitable Life Assur. Society, 241 App. Div. 172; Larkin v. InterState Casualty Co., 43 App. Div. 365; Kay v. Travellers Ins. Co., 242 App. Div. 798; 266 N. Y. 671; Jensen v. Commercial Travelers Ins. Co., 247 App. Div. 835; Loewenthal v. Commercial Travelers Mut. Acc. Assn., 253 App. Div. 583.)
    
      William B. Moore for respondent.
    Because a verdict in favor of the plaintiff would have been unsupported by the evidence, the trial court was required to direct a verdict in favor of the defendant. (Smith v. Massachusetts Bonding & Ins. Co., 207 App. Div. 682; 241 N. Y. 558; McMartin v. Fidelity & Casualty Co., 264 N. Y. 220; Silverstein v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 254 N. Y. 81; Ruppert v. Brooklyn Heights R. R. Co., 154 N. Y. 90; Collins v. City of New York, 185 App. Div. 586.)
   Per Curiam.

The evidence presented an issue of fact as to whether or not the insured died as the result of a pre-existing heart condition.

The judgments should be reversed and a new trial granted with costs to appellant to abide the event.

Lehman, Ch. J., Loughran, Finch, Rippey, Lewis, Conway and Desmond, JJ., concur.

Judgments reversed, etc.