The San Francisco call., 1896-04-22
Ten Thousand Dollars of Acci.
dent Policies Are Hang
ing Fire.
A LIMITED TIME FOR DYING.
The Deceased Came Outside of the
Ninety.Day Period and the Courts
May be Sought.

of which Architect a. Page Brown had
life policy of 5000 have paid the poll
cies in full, thus starting the widow in
life with neat nestegg of $50,0 600.
AT the time of his death he had two &C
cident policies aggregating $4,000 in the
United States Casualty Company. These
policies, in the usual form, provided for
the payment of $50 per week indemnity
in case of accident or disability for GER
tain number of weeks.
The company has not yet paid the loss.
1t has offered to pay the indemnity of $50
per week from the time of the accident up
TO the time of Mr.. Pages death, and while
it has not yet positively refused to pay the
$4,000, the full amount of the policies, it
has taken the matter under consideration
in its New York Office.
The hitch, if such it may be called,
arises from the existence IN the policies OF
proyiso TO the effect that no claims will
be paid in cases where death occurred in
more than ninety days after the accident
i similar proviso has been inserted in the
Dolices of other accident insurance COM
panies, the reason for the proviso being,
according to the statement of insurance
men, that experience has shown that
nearly all fatal accidents produce death
within ninety days.
As Mr.. Brown died LOG days after he was
injured in the runaway accident his poll
cies were forfeited according to the judg-
ment of the insurance people, the policy
being contract and the proviso being
plain and unmistakable. There is no con-
tention as 10 the fact that the injured
architect never left his bed from the time
he was injured until he died. Insurance
people say that he has forfeited his poll
cies by not dying soon enough and that
all he is entitled to is the indemnity of $50
per week for LOG days
Mr.. Browns representatives will bring
the matter into the courts should the COM
pany refuse TO pay the claim, in which
event the case will be of more than ordi-
nary interest to accident insurance COM
panies and to persons holding policies un-
der them. Horace G. Platt, counsel for
the company, is in New York consulting
with the heads of the institution, while
Harold Wheeler, the attorney for Mrs.
Page, is here biding his time and keeping
his armor polished for the fray.
J. D. Maxwell, manager for the insur-
ance company, said yesterday that the
ninety-day clause is inserted in all acci-
dent insurance policies as a barrier against
fraud. For instance, a man might have
been insured more than year ago and his
insurance may have run out. Some day
relative may walk in the Office and claim
the premium on the ground that the in
sured had recently died from injuries re-
ceived more than year past. The proofs,
or pretended proofs, will be ready and the
insurance company will be placed at the
disadvantage of having to explore field
in which all the evidence favorable to it.
self has been mutilated or destroyed.
On the other side, it is contended that
such could not be the case in the Page
matter. 1t is urged, also. that it would be
against good morals to enforce the ninety.
day proviso where there is evidently no
fraud. Thus the case of a poor mechanic
stricken down by an accident.
All that he has to leave behind to his
wife and children is the accident policy
He fingers On and on, growing worse and
worse. The physician from the first has
predicted his death. When it comes to
the eighty-eighth or eighty-ninth day and
he still fingers hopelessly in the grave,
though not dead, it is terrible situation
for his wife and children. If he should
poverty would be their lot If he should
die before the expiration of the ninetieth
day they would have a home and a refuge
from the storms of life.
w. A. Lawson, the attorney, has been
looking recently over Supreme Court de-
cisions on accident insurance cases. He
said yesterday that in all such cases the
courts have given the insured the benefit
~ Unit hat
constructions OF the provisos contended
for by the companies. Some of the cita-
tions are very peculiar. Thus, in case
where man was choked to death acci-
dentalIy while trying to swallow tough
piece of steak the insurance company con-
tended that the policy should not be paid.
because the death had not been caused by
external and violent means"
The court in rendering its decision
pointed out that the provision in the
policy was inserted for the purpose of pro-
tecting the company from imposition in
cases where a man might die from disease
and allege that it was accident. The de-
cision was given against the company.
A similar plea and decision were noted
IN case where man was asphyxiated by
poisonous gases in well, the court saying
that the proviso against death by the in
halation OF gases meant the common use
of gas in dentistry and surgery, in which
event the proviso would hold good and the
company would not be held liable.
Other cases were cited in which the in
sured met his death while getting off the
train at the end of the journey for which
he had been insured, the companies con-
tending that the journey having been
completed the policies lapsed, but the
courts held that the policies must be paid.
S. c. Pardee, a well-known insurance
man, said yesterday that about S325, 900
was annually paid as premiums in Cali
fornia for accident and casualty insurance.