Robinson v. Equitable Life Assurance Society of United States

Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York

Robinson v. Equitable Life Assurance Society of United States

155 Misc. 583, 280 N.Y.S. 77, 1935 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1195

CourtAppellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York

DecidedMay 21, 1935

StatusPublished

This text of 155 Misc. 583 (Robinson v. Equitable Life Assurance Society of United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Robinson v. Equitable Life Assurance Society of United States, 155 Misc. 583, 280 N.Y.S. 77, 1935 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1195 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1935).

Pincite

Opinion

Per Curiam.

Total and permanent disability is such as renders the insured unable to carry on the occupation in which he had been trained and worked, or employment in work of the same general character where he may be gainfully employed in an occupation reasonably comparable in type and remuneration to that in which he was employed at the time of the claimed disability. (Arico v. Prudential Ins. Co., 241 App. Div. 826.) The portion of the trial justice’s charge which stated it was not necessary for the plaintiff to be unable to perform any work, but simply to be unable to perform a substantial part of his ordinary business or occupation, constituted prejudicial error.

The statements by plaintiff in applications for operator’s licenses, in effect that he had not suffered any physical or mental disability (during the time of the disability claimed in the action), are not conclusive in the sense that the defendant, on proof of same, was entitled as matter of law to the dismissal of the complaint. Such admissions went to credibility, and defendant was entitled under appropriate instructions to have the effect thereof upon the credibility of plaintiff’s claim of disability submitted to the jury.

Judgment reversed and a new trial ordered, with thirty dollars costs to appellant to abide the event.

All concur; present, Hammer, Callahan and Shientag, JJ.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Per Curiam.

Total and permanent disability is such as renders the insured unable to carry on the occupation in which he had been trained and worked, or employment in work of the same general character where he may be gainfully employed in an occupation reasonably comparable in type and remuneration to that in which he was employed at the time of the claimed disability. (Arico v. Prudential Ins. Co., 241 App. Div. 826.) The portion of the trial justice’s charge which stated it was not necessary for the plaintiff to be unable to perform any work, but simply to be unable to perform a substantial part of his ordinary business or occupation, constituted prejudicial error.

The statements by plaintiff in applications for operator’s licenses, in effect that he had not suffered any physical or mental disability (during the time of the disability claimed in the action), are not conclusive in the sense that the defendant, on proof of same, was entitled as matter of law to the dismissal of the complaint. Such admissions went to credibility, and defendant was entitled under appropriate instructions to have the effect thereof upon the credibility of plaintiff’s claim of disability submitted to the jury.

Judgment reversed and a new trial ordered, with thirty dollars costs to appellant to abide the event.

All concur; present, Hammer, Callahan and Shientag, JJ.

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)

155 Misc. 583, 280 N.Y.S. 77, 1935 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1195, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/robinson-v-equitable-life-assurance-society-of-united-states-nyappterm-1935.

Opinion

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack