Jensma v. Sun Life Assur. Co. of Canada

64 F.2d 457, 1933 U.S. App. LEXIS 4122
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedApril 3, 1933
Docket6932
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 64 F.2d 457 (Jensma v. Sun Life Assur. Co. of Canada) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jensma v. Sun Life Assur. Co. of Canada, 64 F.2d 457, 1933 U.S. App. LEXIS 4122 (9th Cir. 1933).

Opinion

SAWTELLE, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment in favor of the defendants-appellees in two law actions brought by the plaintiff-appellant to recover from the appellees sums alleged to be due under policies of insurance covering the death of her husband, Cornelius P. Jens-ma, from bodily injuries alleged to have been, suffered solely “through external, violent and accidental means.”

By agreement of the parties, the two causes were consolidated for trial and for hearing on the same record and briefs on appeal. The cases were tried by the court; a *458 jury trial being éxpressly waived in writing.

The appellant’s original complaint alleged that a physician “administered to the said insured a hay fever treatment (manufactured, designed and intended to be a treatment for the prevention and cure of hay fever), by injecting into the body of the insured a hay fever'pollen extract, which said extract, without the knowledge, fault or negligence of the said Samuel A. Swayne [the physician] or of the said insured, contained the spores of an anaerobic gas producing organism, and from the effects of which the said insured did die.»

During the trial, after a witness for the appellant had testified that the infection might have come from an infected garment worn by the insured, or from other sources that wiU be discussed later, the appellant obtained from the court permission to amend her complaint to read that the physician “administered or caused to be administered to the said insured a hay fever treatment' (the extract used in said treatment manufactured, designed and intended to be a treatment for the prevention and cure of hay fever) by injecting into the body of the insured a hay fever pollen extract, and in so doing or as a result of which, without the knowledge, fault or negligence on the part of the insured, the spore or spores of an anaerobic gas produe-ing organism entered the body of the insured, from the effect of which the insured did die,” etc. A continuance was granted to the ap-pellees that they might have an opportunity to meét thé amendment.

The appellant requested the court below to make, among others, the following eonclusion of law: “6, That plaintiff is entitled to judgment according to the prayer of her complaint.” This request was denied.

Having refused to make the findings of fact and conclusions of law requested by the appellant, and having duly allowed the appellant exceptions to such refusal, the court below entered special findings of fact and conclusions of law in each of the causes, the findings in each case being the same.

The present' controversy centers around finding No. IV, which was given as requested by the appellees, and was as follows: “On the 28th day of May, 1930, the insured Cornelius P. Jensma, caused a nurse to inject into his upper arm a serum made of pollen extract diluted with certain liquids. In making this .injection the nurse used a hypodermie syringe which was partially filled with the serum. An infection caused by an anerobic gas-producing bacillus resulted, of which the insured died on the 31st day of May, 1930. There is no evidence respecting the time when *e infection occurred, and the court is unable to determine from the evidence as to when it did occur. The nature of the infecWm was not discovered until at least two days after the injection was made. There is no evidence sufficient to establish the source of the infection which caused the injury complained of. The plaintiff’s witness referred to all the possible sources of infection which were involved in the operation, and drew the conclusion that since an infection occurred it must have come from one of these sources. The sources thus referred to were the needle, the s^in^ tbe extrae*> *be of de' ®ea®eds arm, the nurses hands, and a contammated substance touching the abrasion made by f6 ejection after the operation was completed. The court finds that of these som'ees tlms suggested the pollen extract was not _,tbe source of the infection, and that the and .syringe> were a so not the source °f the infection. It finds that the source of *be “Action was either the surface of the or sof !• subsí“ce unkn,0TO whlch> after the completion of the operation, eame m oont&f T I ’ or ea“e 111 contact with the wound left by the scratching off of the small scab covering this abr™’ or came from some* source undisc osed and not suggested by either party,

The appellees concede that even in a ease of this character the appellate court has the power to consider the evidence, but insist' that such examination must not go farther ^ban- to inquire “whether there is any evideuce to support the findings and whether tbe findings support the judgment.”

This is unquestionably the law. In Dooley v. Pease, 180 U. S. 126, 131, 132, 21 S. Ct. 329, 331, 45 L. Ed. 457, the court said:

“Where a ease is tried by the court, a jury having been waived, its findings upon questions of fact are conclusive in the courts of review, it matters not how convincing the argument that upon the evidence the findings should have been different. Stanley v. Supervisors [of Albany County], 121 U. S. 547, 7 S. Ct. 1234, 30 L. Ed. 1000, 1002.
“Errors alleged in the findings of the court are not subject to revision by the eircuit eourt of appeals, or by this court, if there was any evidence upon which such findings could be made. Hathaway v. National Bank, 134 U. S. 498, 10 S. Ct. 608, 33 L. Ed. 1004, 1006; St. Louis v. Rutz, 138 U. S. 241, 11 S. Ct. 337, 34 L. Ed. 941, 946; Runkle v. *459 Burnham, 153 U. S. 225, 14 S. Ct. 837, 38 L. Ed. 691, 697.”

See, also, 28 USCA §§ 773 and 875; Blanchard v. Commercial Bank of Tacoma (C. C. A. 9) 75 F. 249, 252, 253; Wolff v. Wells, Fargo & Co. (C. C. A. 9) 115 F. 32, 34; Societe Nouvelle d’Armement v. Barnaby (C. C. A. 9) 246 F. 68, 71, 72.

We will therefore test the foregoing finding No-, IV according to the rule laid down in section 875; supra; namely, “when the finding is special the review may extend to the determination of the sufficiency of the facts found to support the judgment.” We will also inquire whether, under the undisputed testimony, there was any substantial evidence upon which the lower* eouit might have based an assumption that the infection from which the insured died was caused by other than “external means.” Finally, we will endeavor to determine whether, as a matter of law, the finding of the lower court, on its face, does not establish the faefc that the “means” were “accidental.”

If we find that the means whereby the fatal infection was transmitted to the insured were both “external and accidental,” the appellant must be held to have made out her ease; for the appellees admit that, as to the third element required by the policy — namely, that of “violence”- — “the authorities are uniform in holding that any degree of force is sufficient to satisfy the provisions of the policy that the means must be 'violent.’ ” This is a correct statement of the law.

First, were the means external?

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Bluebook (online)
64 F.2d 457, 1933 U.S. App. LEXIS 4122, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jensma-v-sun-life-assur-co-of-canada-ca9-1933.