Jenkner v. Knights of Maccabees

Citations

• 243 Pa. 281
• 90 A. 73
• 1914 Pa. LEXIS 614

Syllabus

<p>Insurance — Life insurance — Insurance policies — Suicide clause— Death by poison — Suicidal inteni — Mistahe—Case for fury.</p> <p>1. Where in an action upon a life insurance policy which provides- -that it shall he void if the insured commits suicide, the proofs of death furnished by the beneficiary give suicide as the cause of death, the burden is shifted to the beneficiary to show that death was not in fact caused by suicide.</p> <p>. 2. Where in an action upon a life insurance policy, it appears that the death of the insured was caused by drinking carbolic acid when alone in his bed room, and the proofs of death signed by the beneficiary gave suicide as the cause, the case is for the jury and a verdict for the plaintiff will be sustained, where it further appears from the plaintiff’s evidence that the proofs of death were filled out by a representative of the defendant, were not read to her and were signed by her without knowing the contents, that the bottle of acid had been procured by the insured for household purposes and placed in a closet containing his medicine, it also appearing that the insured’s eye sight was impaired at the time.</p>