Travelers' Insurance v. Nicklas

Citations

• 88 Md. 470
• 41 A. 906
• 1898 Md. LEXIS 216

Syllabus

<p>Life Insurance — Death by Suicide or Accident — Presumptions — Proof of Death.</p> <p>Where it appears that the death of the person insured was the result either of accident or suicide, and there is no evidence to show which was the cause, or where from all the evidence the cause of death may be equally referred to either accident or suicide, the presumption of law is that the death was accidental.</p> <p>A policy of life insurance provided that it should be void if the insured should die by suicide either voluntary or involuntary, and whether he be sane or insane. The insured was found dead in his room with a pistol shot wound in his head, and there was no evidence to show how it had been inflicted. Held, that the jury were properly instructed that self-destruction by the insured is not to be presumed, but the presumption is that the wound was the result of accident, and the burden of proof is upon the defendant company to show by a preponderance of testimony that the wound was intentionally self-inflicted, and that unless the jury find from the evidence that insured intentionally shot himself, their verdict must be for the plaintiff, to whom the policy on his life was payable.</p> <p>The proofs of death furnished by the plaintiff are not prima facie evidence in an action on the policy to show the cause of death, when they are the declarations of a third party and made without the authority of the plaintiff.</p>