Court Opinion

ID: 9639678
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 16:44:26.124832+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:05.185549
License: Public Domain

DONNELLY, Judge
(dissenting).
In Logan v. Fidelity & Casualty Co., 146 Mo. 114, 47 S.W. 948 (1898), this Court held that the suicide statute (§ 376.-620, RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S.) applies to accident policies of insurance. The courts of Missouri have struggled ever since to reach logical results within the framework of such holding. Cf. Spillman v. Kansas City Life Insurance Co., 238 Mo.App. 419, 180 S.W.2d 605, and Kaskowitz v. Aetna Life Insurance Company, Mo.App., 316 S. W.2d 132.
In my opinion, the discussion which appears in 1959 Washington University Law Quarterly, pp. 183-188, conclusively demon*649strates the illogic of the Logan holding. It reads, in part, as follows:
“ * * * Furthermore, there appears to be, contrary to the conclusions of the Logan case, a practical reason for drawing a distinction on policy grounds between life and accident insurance for purposes of the statute. This reason lies in the basic difference between what is contemplated by the parties to a life insurance contract and what is contemplated in an accident or double indemnity policy. In the former, the insured seeks indemnification for an event which surely must happen, and his policy has the character of an investment in which only the date of payment is uncertain. The insurer, on its part, is aware that it has a certain obligation. On the other hand, in the case of accident or double indemnity insurance, the insured seeks indemnification for an event which may never happen at all, and his expectation is one of a bonus to be paid in case he dies by unnatural means. The insurer expects only to be liable upon the happening of some unexpected and unforeseeable occurrence. Conceding that there are policy reasons for protecting the beneficiary of an insured who commits suicide when covered by life insurance, where the insurer accepts the liability for the death itself, these reasons for protecting the beneficiary do not exist in the case of accident insurance where the insurer has agreed to assume liability only on the occurrence of an accidental death. In the latter instance the parties did not contemplate a payment based on the mere fact of death, but realized that death must result from a more specific, i. e., accidental cause. There is therefore no reason why the insurer should be prevented from specifying which causes of death are included in its coverage.”
I would overrule the Logan case. I respectfully dissent.