Security Life Insurance Co. of America v. Dillard

Citations

• 117 Va. 401
• 84 S.E. 656
• 1915 Va. LEXIS 48

Syllabus

<p>1. Life Insurance — Suicide Complete Defense — Public Policy.— There can be no recovery on a life insurance policy where the assured, while sane, committed suicide whether the policy be for the benefit of his family or his estate, and whether suicide was or was not in contemplation of the parties as a risk covered by the policy. Recovery is refused from reasons of public policy.</p> <p>2. Life Insurance — Suicide as Defense — Failure to Mention in Grounds of Defense Immaterial.—The fact that suicide of the insured is not mentioned in defendant’s statement of its grounds of defense is immaterial. Considerations of public policy forbid recovery. These considerations have to do, not with the interests of the parties litigant, but with the public weal, and overreach all mere formal rules of procedure. They cannot be waived by the litigants, either intentionally or unintentionally, but will be enforced by the courts in the interest of public justice.</p>