Gem State Mutual Life Association v. Gray

290 P.2d 217, 77 Idaho 157, 1955 Ida. LEXIS 331
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 8, 1955
Docket8281
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 290 P.2d 217 (Gem State Mutual Life Association v. Gray) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gem State Mutual Life Association v. Gray, 290 P.2d 217, 77 Idaho 157, 1955 Ida. LEXIS 331 (Idaho 1955).

Opinion

TAYLOR, Chief Justice.

February 7, 1954, at McCammon, at about 1:00 o’clock a. m., insured advised his wife, Agnes Gray, by ’phone that he was extremely drunk and wasn’t coming home. On previous occasions when intoxicated he had come home and beaten her. Upon receiving the ’phone call, she barred the doors and sat down to wait. She knew he would be angry and, if drunk, would beat her. About 2:00 o’clock a. m. he came to the house, tried to get in and banged on the door. She told him to go to a hotel, but he refused and kept shouting. She called the town marshal, and deceased, apparently hearing the call, left. He came back about an hour later and again pounded on the door. She told him she had a gun and “was going to use it if I had to.” He replied that it was cold outside and that if she didn’t let him in he “was going to break the door down.” *160 She asked him if she let him in, would he let her alone. His only reply was that it was awfully cold. She let him in and told him to lie down on the davenport and sleep until he felt better. Without answering, he advanced into the house and toward the stove where he turned and suddenly "jumped at me.” She further testified:

“A. Well, when he jumped at me I tried to get out of his way and the gun went off and he said you killed me and I asked him if I had hit him; I didn’t know, and he fell on the floor.
* * * * * *
“A. When he jumped at me I jumped to get out of his way and that is when the gun went off.
“Q. You didn’t intend to shoot him? A. No, I didn’t.
“Q. It was purely accidental that you shot him? A. Yes, it was.
******
“Q. He hadn’t hit you that night, had he? A. No, he hadn’t hit me.”

Prior to his marriage to Agnes, with whom the altercation occurred, the insured was married to respondent Lucy Gray. During the period of that marriage, July 31, 1941, the appellant issued a life insurance policy insuring the life of deceased in the amount of $1,498. The respondent, at that time wife of the insured, was named beneficiary. About March 22, 1951, the beneficiary, Lucy Gray, procured a divorce from the insured. The decree did not determine the rights of the parties relative to the insurance, and respondent remained the beneficiary to the time of the death of the insured. December 14, 1951, insured married Agnes Tripp. They were divorced December 11, 1952, and remarried January 2, 1953.

In March, 1954, appellant insurer filed an action against Lucy Gray, beneficiary, Agnes Gray, widow, and unknown owners or claimants of the insurance involved, alleging that both were claimants and that a daughter of the deceased was a possible claimant. It also alleged that it did not have a copy of the policy. With this action the appellant tendered and paid into the court the face amount of the policy — $1,498 —and prayed the court to determine who was entitled to the same.

Later the original policy was produced by the widow. One of its standard provisions is: “If death occurs while * * * violating any criminal law, the Association will pay: One-Tenth The Face Amount Of The Certificate.”

Appellant then filed an amended complaint, attaching the policy, and alleging that the insured met his death while committing a criminal assault upon his wife, Agnes Gray, for which reason its liability was reduced to $149.80, and withdrew from deposit with the clerk all in excess of that amount.

Agnes Gray answered, alleging that during the time of her marriage to the insured the premiums on the policy were paid from community funds, and claiming the right to *161 a prorated share in the proceeds of the policy. On the trial she offered no evidence in her own behalf, and has taken no appeal from the judgment adverse to her.

Lucy Gray answered as beneficiary, claiming the full amount of the policy. In a cross-complaint she further alleges that on June 10, 1953, the cross-defendant, insurer, issued a supplement to the policy insuring the deceased against death by accident in the additional amount of $1,498, which is also due her as beneficiary. She also alleges demand and refusal of payment, and claims attorney’s fees under the statute. Chapter 289, S.L.1951.

In its affirmative defenses to the cross-complaint the insurer by reference incorporates the defensive allegations of its amended complaint and, in reference to the accident supplement, alleges the insured died as the result of an assault committed by him upon his wife; that he “was the aggressor and voluntarily and culpably provoked and engaged in an assault upon his wife and under such circumstances as to charge him with reasonable anticipation that his aggression would be met with such force or resistance as to put him in danger of death or bodily harm. That he knew that his wife had in her possession a loaded gun, and that he had been warned not to seek to molest her, but that disregarding such knowledge and such warning, he did deliberately expose himself to danger by his own voluntary and intentional acts and conduct,” and that his death was “not produced by accidental means within the meaning of the accidental death supplement, but were the natural and probable consequences of his own voluntary acts.”

Thus by the cross-complaint and the answer thereto, two principal issues were raised. First, did death occur while the insured was violating a criminal law ? Second, was the death accidental? Upon trial a jury was impanelled, but the trial court submitted only the first of these issues to the jury. In answer to a special interrogatory submitted, the jury returned its verdict “That Cecil Gray did not make a criminal assault upon Agnes Gray immediately prior to his death.”

Appellant asserts in its brief that the court limited the issues submitted to the jury without consulting counsel. Nothing appears in the transcript to indicate a waiver of trial by jury on all issues. § R10-301 I.C. As finally developed by the pleadings, this is an action at law by the beneficiary upon an insurance contract in which the insurer alleges that two of the conditions of the policy were breached by the insured. Farmer v. Loofbourrow, 75 Idaho 88, 267 P.2d 113, 41 A.L.R.2d 774; Cooper v. Wesco Builders, 76 Idaho 278, 281 P.2d 669; Const. Art. 1, § 7. Appellant having produced competent and substantial evidence in support of both defenses, both should have been submitted to the jury. Jones v. City of Caldwell, 20 Idaho 5, 116 P. 110, 48 L.R.A.,N.S., 119; Packard v. O’Neil, 45 Idaho 427, 262 P. 881, 56 A.L.R. *162 317; Addy v. Stewart, 69 Idaho 357, 207 P.2d 498; Lemman v. McManus, 71 Idaho 467, 233 P.2d 410; Cook v. Saltzer, 74 Idaho 97, 257 P.2d 228.

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Bluebook (online)
290 P.2d 217, 77 Idaho 157, 1955 Ida. LEXIS 331, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gem-state-mutual-life-association-v-gray-idaho-1955.