Jaques v. Order of United Commercial Travelers of America

Citations

• 104 Kan. 612
• 180 P. 200
• 1919 Kan. LEXIS 319

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Accident Insurance — Commercial Traveler — Change of Occupation— Question of Fact for Jury. A person whose regular vocation for thirty years was that of a commercial traveler, and who, when his usual business was dull or when he desired to be at home for a short time to enjoy the society of his family, was accustomed for short intervals to do any sort of labor obtainable near home, does not thereby, as p matter of law, change his occupation within the fair interpretation of an ordinary accident insurance policy.</p> <p>2. Same — Change of Occupation. Ordinarily, a person does not change his occupation within the meaning of an ordinary policy of accident insurance without both acts and intention showing a purpose so to do.</p> <p>3. Same — Change of Vocation — Question for Jury. The facts touching the acceptance of temporary work as a janitor by an insured person who was a commercial traveler, in order to be at home with his family for a short time, but who had also avowed his purpose not to continue at such work, but to go back to his own vocation, examined, and held to present a fair question of fact for the jury, as to whether the insured had changed his vocation — following Evans v. Accident Association, 102 Kan. 556, 171 Pac. 643.</p> <p>4. Same — Cause of Death — Question of Fact for Jury. The evidence touching the question whether the insured died of violent, external,. and accidental means, or whether he died of disease, examined, and held to be a question of fact for the jury; and held, also, that the evidence sufficiently supported the verdict.</p> <p>5. Same — Exclusion of Evidence. The exclusion of a certified copy of the death certificate authorized by section 10167 of the General Statutes of 1915, although it was admissible, in this case was not prejudicial error.</p> <p>6. Same — Instructions. It is immaterial that there may be inaccuracy in an instruction on a phase of a lawsuit upon which the judgment is not based.