Continental Casualty Co. v. Bows

Citations

• 72 Fla. 17
• 72 So. 278

Syllabus

<p>1. In an action at law instituted by the insured against an insurance company upon an accident insurance policy which provides an indemnity in the sum of $500.00 “For loss of either hand by complete severance at or above the wrist,” the insured is not entitled to a recovery under such provision, when the evidence adduced fails to show a complete severance of the hand at or above the wrist, even though it may establish that the small portion of the hand so left was practically of no use or service to the insured.</p> <p>2. All parties who are sui juris, including insurance companies and persons having property insured as well as others, in the eyes of the law, before the court, stand upon an equal footing, entitled to equal rights and protection, and none to special privileges. All parties are free to make whatever contracts they please, so long as no fraud or deception is practiced and the contract is legal in all respects.</p> <p>3. Parties are bound by the contracts they make, when the same are legal, and it is the duty of the courts to construe and enforce contracts, not to make or change them.</p>