Kerr v. Modern Woodmen

Citations

• 117 F. 593
• 54 C.C.A. 655
• 1902 U.S. App. LEXIS 4462

Syllabus

<p>1, Removal of Causes—Amendment of Petition,</p> <p>A federal court may properly allow the amendment of a petition for removal which is sufficient to give it jurisdiction for the purpose of correcting a mistaken allegation as to plaintiff’s citizenship, where plaintiff’s own showing establishes the requisite diversity of citizenship to sustain the jurisdiction.</p> <p>3L Witnesses—Competency—Interest.</p> <p>Under Rev. St. U. S. § 858, which forbids fhe exclusion of a witness because of interest in the issue tried, the fact that witnesses called in behalf of a fraternal insurance order are members of such order does not affect their competency.</p> <p>3. Life Insurance—Action on Policy—Evidence on Issue of Suicide.</p> <p>Upon an issue as to whether an insured committed suicide, evidence of declarations made by him shortly prior to his death, and of other facts tending to show his mental condition and his expectations and apprehensions at the time, which might have influenced his act, is admissible.</p> <p>L Evidence—Proof of Contents of Writing—Authentication of Copy.</p> <p>A newspaper clipping, purporting to be a copy of a note written in the memorandum book of an insured, found after his death, is sufficiently authenticated to render it admissible as secondary evidence to prove the contents of such note by the testimony of a witness that he made a copy of the note from the original, and subsequently compared the clipping with such copy, and found it correct.</p> <p>6. Life Insurance—Action on Policy—Measure of Proof to Establish Suicide.</p> <p>A fair preponderance of the evidence only is required to establish the fact of suicide as a defense to an action on a life insurance policy.</p> <p>6. Trial—Instructions—Right of Judge to State Opinion as to Fact Proved.</p> <p>In a federal court the judge may properly state to the jury his own opinion as to what facts are proven or not proven by the evidence in the cause, and the bearing of such facts upon the issues s