Court Opinion

ID: 9577511
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:35:41.669331+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:20:43.901611
License: Public Domain

On Motion roe Rehearing.
It is contended by the defendant in error that this court has overlooked previous decisions which have left the question of accidental death to the jury where the death of the insured occurred during the course of an altercation with his wife or some other person. In Riggins v. Equitable Life Assurance Soc., 64 Ga. App. 834, 840 (14 S. E. 2d 182), this court held: “Under one phase of the evidence in the instant case, the jury would have been authorized to say that the fights between the insured and his wife were so common that when he attempted to and did force open and break down the door to his apartment, and attempted to enter his home, there was no reason for him to believe his wife .would shoot him. It might be said, as a matter of common knowledge, that some men in an intoxicated condition have entered their homes (when they knew their wives were therein) at unseemly hours and in an unseemly manner, and that one would not necessarily expect to be killed on such an occasion, especially where the wife knew it was he. In other words, the insured did not necessarily appreciate that by doing the act of forcing the door and breaking into his own home he was putting his life in hazard.” (Emphasis added). The distinction between the facts of the situation in that case and the instant case is obvious. Here, the deceased insured actually undertook to struggle for possession of a loaded firearm and the evidence of previous altercations with his wife, which did not involve the use of a dangerous instrumentality on her part does not suffice to create a question for the jury under these circumstances. The following cases are likewise clearly distinguishable upon their facts: Empire Life Ins. Co. v. Einstein, *85712 Ga. App. 380 (77 S. E. 209); Nelson v. American Nat. Ins. Co., 67 Ga. App. 775 (21 S. E. 2d 658); and Johnson v. Southern Life Ins. Co., 95 Ga. App. 625 (98 S. E. 2d 382).

Rehearing denied.