Chambers v. Modern Woodmen of America

Citations

• 18 S.D. 173
• 99 N.W. 1107
• 1904 S.D. LEXIS 39

Syllabus

<p>1. The verdict of a coroner’s jury that one whose life was insured committed suicide is not admissible as evidence against the beneficiary in an action on the benefit certificate on the issue of suicide.</p> <p>2. A copy of a letter purporting to have been written by assured to his wife, the beneficiary in the benefit certificate, is inadmissible in an action on the certificate on the issue of assured’s suicide.</p> <p>3. In an action on a benefit certificate, in which suicide of the assured is set up as a defense, defendant has the burden of proof of suicide.</p> <p>4. The refusal to grant a continuance on the mere showing that counsel who was expected to assist other counsel in the trial was unable to be present is not an abuse of the court’s discretion.</p> <p>5. An application for a continuance is addressed to the discretion of the court, and in the absence of a manifest abuse of that discretion-the judg- > ment will not be reversed because of the refusal thereof.</p> <p>6. To .entitle a party to a continuance on the ground of the absence of a witness, he must show that the evidence of the witness is material, and that due diligence has been exercised to procure his attendance, and must give a reasonable assurance that his attendance can be procured for the future trial.</p>