Court Opinion

ID: 9536389
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 06:59:01.563876+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:54:24.612761
License: Public Domain

Hill, J.
(dissenting) — I dissent because I do not believe that there is substantial evidence to sustain the trial court’s finding that the plaintiff “was involved in an accident,” and would therefore direct a dismissal.
This was an action to recover disability payments provided by an accident insurance policy.
To recover, the plaintiff had to prove that his disability was caused by an accident.
The trial court found,
That said policy was in full force and effect on March 21, 1962. That on said date plaintiff was involved in an accident and sustained an injury to his back which caused losses as referred to in Section 3 of the aforesaid policy. (Finding of Fact 3)
*68This is a finding of ultimate fact, with no indication as to the circumstances on which that finding was based.
The plaintiff was the only witness, and his testimony1 does not sustain that finding. His testimony was that he was employed as a heavy-duty mechanic and welder and, as a routine part of his job, he was sliding a bulldozer-cutting blade, weighing 150 to 200 pounds, from his station wagon to mount it on a bulldozer and, as he was turning around, his back went out on him and he fell. He did not injure his hands or any other part of his body, and he fell only because his “back gave out.”
*69We have here no unforeseen incident; it is simply the unexpected result of the insured’s voluntary act. That this does not constitute an accident within the purview of an accident insurance policy is clearly stated in Evans v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 26 Wn.2d 594, 622, 174 P.2d 961 (1946). This court, after an extensive examination of the authorities (covering some 19 pages), said:
The conclusion we must reach from a consideration of all the cited cases is that accident is never present when a deliberate act is performed, unless some additional, unexpected, independent, and unforeseen happening occurs which produces or brings about the result of injury or death.
It will be noted that the above conclusion is contrary to the decisions in the Horsfall and Bennett cases. Those cases are therefore overruled.
The Evans case is particularly important because it specifically overruled Horsfall v. Pacific Mut. Life Ins. Co., 32 Wash. 132, 72 Pac. 1028, 98 Am. St. Rep. 846, 63 L.R.A. 425 (1903), and Bennett v. Mutual Trust Life Ins. Co., 21 Wn.2d 698, 152 P.2d 713 (1944), which had held that death or injury is accidental, even though the means are intentional, where the results are unusual, unexpected, or unforeseen.
The Evans case has been reaffirmed in McMahan v. Mutual Benefit Health & Acc. Ass'n, 33 Wn.2d 415, 206 P.2d 292 (1949); Bennett v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 35 Wn.2d 284, 212 P.2d 790 (1949); and Johnson v. Business Men’s Assur. Co., 38 Wn.2d 245, 249, 228 P.2d 760 (1951). In the latter case, it is said:
The rule is now firmly established in this state that, in order to recover under a policy insuring against death or injury by accidental means, (1) it is not enough that the result was unusual, unexpected or unforeseen, but it must appear that the means were accidental; and (2) accident is never present when a deliberate act is performed, unless some additional, unexpected, independent, and unforeseen happening occurs which produces or brings about the result of injury or death.
*70Further elaboration is unnecessary on this proposition of law, as it is not controverted by the majority. Instead, the majority takes the position that there is evidence to sustain the trial court’s finding that there was an accident.
Unable to find that evidence in the plaintiff’s testimony, the majority turns to exhibit No. 2, the “Claimant’s Statement for Accident or Illness,” admitted in evidence to establish that a claim was made as required by the policy. Question No. 4 therein was: “If accident, how did it occur?” And the answer was: “Unloading equipment, equipment slipped — caused fall and injury.”
The majority says that the trial court had the right to believe the foregoing unsworn and uncross-examined statement of the plaintiff in the face of his sworn testimony wherein there is no suggestion that the equipment slipped and caused his fall. I will not argue as to what the trial court is entitled to believe. That is not the test at this stage of the proceedings. The test here is whether there is ample or substantial evidence to support the finding of the trial court. Paduano v. J. C. Boespflug Constr. Co., 66 Wn.2d 527, 403 P.2d 841 (1965), to Thorndike v. Hesperian Orchards, Inc., 54 Wn.2d 570, 343 P.2d 183 (1959). Exhibit No. 2 is not, in my opinion, substantial evidence of anything except that a claim was filed.
From a reading of the trial judge’s oral opinion, it seems to me that he simply disagrees with our current definition of what constitutes an accident; and, in that view, he has very respectable authority supporting him. However, as I have pointed out, that definition is not under attack.
On this appeal, the applicable law is as heretofore stated, we have left an issue of fact. If there is substantial evidence to sustain the trial court’s finding that the plaintiff’s injuries were due to an accident, as that term is defined by this court, the majority is right. If there is no substantial evidence to sustain that finding, the action should be dismissed. I would dismiss the action.
Donworth, J., concurs with Hill, J.

The entire testimony regarding the manner in which plaintiff was injured is given here:
“Q. Would you tell the Court what you were doing at the time that you were injured? A. I was unloading a bulldozer cutting edge out of my station wagon which weighs at random I can’t tell you exactly the weight is — between 150 to 200 pounds. I was sliding it back and I picked it up to turn it around to lay it down— Q. And what happened at that time? A. My back went out.”
Cross examination:
“Q. On March 21st, as I understand the injury, nothing dropped or fell — you were merely picking up a 150 pound weight and suddenly felt a pain in the back, is that right? A. Well, I went down, with it. Q. I beg your pardon? A. I fell down, with it. Q. You fell down with the 150 pounds? A. Yes, I started to turn around to let it down, why I fell down with it. Q. In other words your back suddenly gave way and previous to this time, you had often picked up weights of this same amount? A. That never bothered me, that little weight, at any time before, no.
“Q. Now, as I understand the accident, this may be repeating, but as I understand the accident, what happened was you lifted a weight of around 150 pounds and you turned to place it or to move it, is that right? A. I was going to lay it down. Slide it — it is around twelve feet long, and I would slide it out of my station wagon and just turned around to lay it down and I would then get in my station wagon and drive away and drive a bull dozer up there and let it down and put it on. Just take one end and slip it on and stick a pin through it and— Q. What you actually did was, you took it out of the pick up turned, and as you were laying it down, is that what — -when your back gave way on you? A. It was just as I was turning— Q. Your back gave way? A. Yes. Q. And then you fell with it, is that right? A. That is right. Q. You didn’t injure your hands or any other part of your body in the fall, did you? A. No. Q. Then after that, I mean you fell with it because your back gave out, what did you do? Were you alone at the time? A. I was.”