Employers' Liability Assur. Corp. v. Morrow

143 F. 750, 74 C.C.A. 640, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 3773
Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit·Decided February 23, 1906·No. No. 1,468·Published·Cited by 19 cases

Opinion

LURTON, Circuit Judge.

This is an action upon a contract of insurance against accident. Under the general liability clause the American corporation insured the defendant in error, Dr. William Morrow, “against bodily injuries within the meaning of this policy, caused by external, violent and accidental means during the period covered by this policy, subject and according to the agreements and conditions herein contained, which are to be considered as conditions precedent, in the principal sum of ten thousand dollars.” Among the so-called agreements and conditions referred to in the general liability clause set out, which are supposed to be applicable in the present controversy, are clauses C, E, G, and M, which are as follows:

“(C) If such injuries alone within ninety days result in the loss by actual separation, of one entire hand or one entire foot, the corporation will pdy one-half the principal sum aforesaid, on surrender of this policy.
“(E) If such injuries shall not be fatal and are not as described in clause B, C, or D, but shall alone result in the assured being immediately and wholly disabled, and he shall thereby be prevented from transacting any and every kind of business pertaining to his occupation, then so long as the assured shall be so disabled, not exceeding two hundred consecutive weeks in respect of any one accident, the corporation will pay the sum of fifty and 00-100 dollars per week.
“(6) If such injuries alone are sustained while riding as a passenger in or upon a public conveyance propelled by steam, electricity or cable, or while being a passenger within an elevated car provided for passenger service only, then the amount payable under clauses A, B, O, D, E, or F, shall be doubled, provided that no payment so made for weekly indemnity shall be in excess of the money value of the assured’s time, and provided also that the addition of five per cent, named in clause A shall not be calculated on double the principal sum assured.
“(M) If the assured is injured in any occupation or exposure classed by this corporation as more hazardous than that herein given, his insurance and weekly indemnity shall be only for such amounts as the premium paid by him will purchase at the .rate fixed for such increased hazard. No claim for indemnity in excess of the money value of the assured’s time shall be valid. If the assured carries insurance, either in this or other companies, or associations, or both, making an aggregate weekly indemnity in excess of the money value of his time, then (except in the case of a claim consequent on the death of the assured or loss of the sight of both eyes or the loss of two entire limbs), this corporation shall be liable for only such proportion of this insurance for weekly indemnity, fixed indemnity or otherwise, as such money value of his time shall bear to the aggregate of the weekly indemnity of the entire insurance so held by him.’’

The case was submitted to the jury upon an agreed statement of facts. The only facts having any bearing upon the interpretation of the contract are these: (1) Dr. William Morrow, the plaintiff below, while traveling as a passenger upon a public conveyance, sustained an injury through violence by which he suffered the loss of an arm within 90 days. He made full proof of loss as required, but payment was refused. He was at the time the holder of the policy in suit and of another of like terms, except that the second had no clause similar to clause M, in the Maryland Casualty Company. (2) His weekly income at the time of the accident was $75 from his occupation, which was that of a real estate agent. Upon the agreed statement of facts the court instructed the jury to return a verdict for the plaintiff for $10,000, with interest from the time the payment [752] was due and .owing under the contract. • The principal sum for which the American association was liable was $10,000. For the loss of an arm they were liable to pay one-half the principal sum under clause C; but, if the loss, as in this case, occurred while traveling as a passenger in a public conveyance, the agreement was, under clause G, to pay double the amount due under other circumstances.

Thus far the contract was plain, so plain that there was no room for controverting a liability for a principal sum of $10,000. But the insistence of the insurer was that the principal sum thus confessedly payable under the general liability claim and clauses C and G of the agreements and conditions should be cut down from $10,000 to $3,750 through the operation of clause M. For convenience we again set •out this clause, as the case must turn upon its meaning:

“If the assured is injured in any occupation or exposure classed by this corporation as more hazardous than that herein given, his insurance and weekly indemnity shall be only for such amourits as the premium paid by him will purchase at the rate fived for such increased hazard. No claim for Indemnity .in excess of the money value of the assured’s time shall be valid. If the assured carries insurance, either in this or other companies, or associations, or both, making an aggregate weekly indemnity in excess of the money value of his time, then (except in the case of a claim consequent on the death of the assured or loss of the sight of both eyes or the loss of two entire limbs), this corporation shall be liable for only such proportion of this insurance for weekly indemnity, fixed indemnity or otherwise, as such money value of his time shall bear to the aggregate of the weekly indemnity of the entire insurance so held by him.”

The construction of this clause insisted upon by the plaintiff in error is best shown by the reqüest made for an instruction, which was in these words:

“From the agreed statement of facts in this case it appears (1) that the money value of plaintiff’s time, or his income, was $75 per week; (2) that under this policy in suit plaintiff was entitled to receive from this defendant $100 per week as indemnity; (3) that under the policy held by the plaintiff in the Maryland Casualty Company was entitled to receive from said company the sum of $100 per week; (4) that the total weekly indemnity to be received by the plaintiff from both companies was $200 per week. The court therefore instructs you that, inasmuch as the money value of plaintiff’s time was but 37% per cent, of the aggregate weekly indemnity to be received from both companies, the plaintiff in this action, if he recover at all, is entitled to recover as a principal sum only 37% per cent, of $10,000, or $3,750.”

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Employers' Liability Assur. Corp. v. Morrow, 143 F. 750, 74 C.C.A. 640, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 3773 (6th Cir. 1906).

143 F. 750 (Employers' Liability Assur. Corp. v. Morrow) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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