Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1872-04-05
Liabilities Of Life Insurance Com
Danlcs

! LLdDlllle5 OF LIE insurance COM-
panles.
The case Of 1Irs. Raols Green sgainst the
/ Hahnemsnu life Insurance Com pa1y, decided in
he U S. D.rtriot Court, GA Wednesday, was one
ola god deal Of Importance and interest, both
to Insurance Companies and TO the insured.
Many 3rolr readers remember well the suicide
of Jacob Green. s worthy mechanic saj under
I tassr Cd this city, whose fund Of humor, kindly
ways, AMI ez;alsu, Character, made him
universal ayorite One dsy in the
fall os lsGy, saer period Of de-
precision, nervous excitement, and sppre-
hensioa lest he should 90 crazy IS his father
hal, he weighted biz pockets AID drowned him
sell 10 tie lake lie bad few months preyioug-
y taken s. policy in the Insurance Company
nAmel, TO a large amount COR man Of his
mesns, the annual premiums on the same
amounting to nearly 500 The policy contain
Ell the ususi clause, providing that i; should be
nul. and void If the insured should commit SUI
eide, or in the phrase Of me policy, lie by HE
own hsnd" This polly Jacob was derirous.
just before HE DEATH TO give up, and TO ge! back
the quarterly payment Of ninety odd dollars
which he had made The counsel for the Com
psuy enieayorei 70 show that this desire WAS
due 20 purpose TO Kill himself and to conyio-
ton on his part that in that case the policy
would be void but the rea,on given by Green
vas that the annual payments were toe hesvy
for Lie mesnt and thiswss not an unreasonable
rsasoa. This arrangement was slsentei to by
the Agent Of the Company, after Mr. Green's
death. Mrs. Green received back the ninety-fye
d3liar' paid gave up the policy and signed
release Of all claims upon tie Company.
now this would seem al first glance to present
cs,e which offered no chsnces for litigation
With policy which by is very terms became
void in case Of suicide, ami with written re-
lease Of her claim for a consideration paid by
the suicides widow, one would suppose that
there Was no reason why the insurance com
psny should pay anything, and no possibility Of
compelling it to pay. But ibis, and other simi-
lar cases, show the mistake Of such supposi-
ton. The courts Of late hold, it seems, sub
stantiaily that when suicide il the result Of in
sanity, which oyerpoTers the will, the company I
If sill liable, in spite Of It's excepting clause.
and there seems to be reason in this. Why /
should mental disease, causing desth through
delusion which makes the msn irresponsible for
his ao,, make void policy, any more than sny
other disease that causes death
As for the value Of the written release. that
depends on the circumstances. If it was pro
cured by fraud, misrepresentation or undue in
iuence, then !, is worth no more TO the company
than any piece Ofpaper.
Nov with these considerations in view, snd
The suit being against foreign corporation, and
"A favor Of an estimable woman. whose case sp-
7ealeJ strongly to the symIt,hies Of both the
lry and the judge, who charged strongly in
ler favor, the verdict is not at al surpriring.
The jury were not out fifteen minutes. They
gave to Mrs. Green the fell amount Of the policy
md interest thereon, an5 the community aener-
lily rejo;oes with her. in the success of her
iait
The result, with other similar ones in other
tAtes, seems to show that to make the excepting
anse surely binding in life insurance policy
he instrument should in terms specify that it
s to be void in case Of suicide resulting from
insanity, uncomfortable impulse. or any other
ause' and that IS commonly woried the sui
ide clause is Of Little value, except in cases in
which it can be cleAriy shown that the policy was
AIKEN out with elesr design to defrAud the in
urHnce company By the commission Of suicide
asses Of which are not so rare as some nay sup
,ose.