Boynton v. Equitable Life Assurance Society

Citations

• 105 La. 202

Syllabus

<p>Syllabus.</p> <p>In an action to recover the amount of a policy of insurance, the defense of suicide, to avail the company, must show that every reasonable hypothesis of accidental death is excluded by the evidence. The insured was alone and was found dead from a gunshot wound, which may have been accidentally Inflicted.</p> <p>On two occasions, the insured took opiates which caused him to be ill. This was some time prior to his death. It does not follow that they were taken with suicidal intent. They may have been taken to relieve pain. Those who attended the deceased in these illnesses did not seem at the time to have suspected that the drugs were taken with suicidal intent.</p> <p>The jury of the vicinage, and the district judge who heard the testimony and witnessed the handling of a similar giln to the one the insured was handling at the time of his death, came to the conclusion that the plea of suicide was not sustained.</p> <p>This court did not find ground sufficient to set aside the verdict and judgment</p>