Felix v. Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance

Citations

• 216 Pa. 95
• 64 A. 903
• 1906 Pa. LEXIS 568

Syllabus

<p>Insurance — Life insurance — Suicide—Proofs of death.</p> <p>In an action on a policy of life insurance where the company sets up as a defense that the deceased committed suicide within two years from the date of the policy, in violation of its terms, proofs of death are admissible as prima facie evidence of the fact of suicide, where such proofs show that the cause of death was suicide; but they are not conclusive of that fact.</p> <p>In an action on a policy of life insurance the company set up suicide as a defense. The coroner was called and testified that he found the deceased sitting in his office chair with the top of his head blown off, his arms down, and a shot gun resting between his legs, with a loop of twine through the trigger guard around his right foot. This testimony was not contradicted. Held, that it was sufficient to justify a verdict in favor of the company.</p>