Court Opinion

ID: 9453112
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 18:03:04.688174+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:33:31.042255
License: Public Domain

LUMBARD, Chief Judge
(dissenting).
The insurance policy provided that “[w]hen an accident occurs written notice shall be given * * * as soon as practicable.” The test under the Connecticut cases is whether “in reason the assured should have recognized the probability that a claim would be made.” Silver v. Indemnity Ins. Co. of No. America, 137 Conn. 525, 531, 79 A.2d 358 (1951). If there was a probability that a claim would be made, then prompt notice should have been given. Here Francis learned the day after the accident that the Worden boy had been seriously injured and that he had been taken to the hospital.
The father’s denial of an intention to sue made immediately after the injury should not excuse the obligation to give notice. It is common experience that statements of intention made immediately after an injury are frequently forgotten and disregarded when later events indicate the possible advantages of a different course of action. Only if the requirement of the policy is enforced in situations such as this can the company protect itself against the difficulties and uncertainties of investigation and finding the facts long after the event when memories and impressions are often hopelessly colored by claims later asserted and the hope of benefits therefrom. The Silver case, supra, is wholly unlike this as there was considerable doubt concerning the extent of the injury and the injured woman was heard to say that she felt all right. It does not seem too much to require as a matter of law that the assured must notify the company after an accident in which someone is so seriously injured as to require hospitalization.
The issue of notice should not have gone to the jury. The court should have directed a verdict for the defendant.