Travellers' Insurance v. McConkey

Citations

• 127 U.S. 661
• 8 S. Ct. 1360
• 32 L. Ed. 308
• 1888 U.S. LEXIS 2030

Syllabus

<p>In an action upon a policy of insurance by which the insurer agreed to pay the sum insured to the beneficiary within ninety days after sufficient proof that the insured within the continuance of the policy had sustained bodily injuries, effected through external, violent and accidéntal means, and that such injuries alone occasioned death within ninety days from their happening, but that no claim should be made when the death or injury was the result of suicide (felonious or otherwise, sane or insane) the burden of proof is on the plaintiff, (subject to the limitation that it is not to' be presumed as matter of law that the deceased took his own life or was murdered,) to show that the death was caused by external violence, and by accidental means; and no valid claim can be made under the policy if the insured, either intentionally, or when insane, inflicted upon himself the injuries which caused his death, or if his death was caused by intentional injuries inflicted upon him by some other person.</p>