United Services Life Ins. Co. v. Bischoff

D.C. Circuit

United Services Life Ins. Co. v. Bischoff

181 F.2d 627, 86 U.S. App. D.C. 328, 1950 U.S. App. LEXIS 2669

CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

DecidedApril 10, 1950

Docket10083_1

StatusPublished

Cited by6 cases

This text of 181 F.2d 627 (United Services Life Ins. Co. v. Bischoff) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

United Services Life Ins. Co. v. Bischoff, 181 F.2d 627, 86 U.S. App. D.C. 328, 1950 U.S. App. LEXIS 2669 (D.C. Cir. 1950).

Pincite

Opinion

EDGERTON, Circuit Judge.

The insurance company appeals from a judgment for the beneficiary in a suit on a policy. The insured, an army captain, , was killed in action piloting a fighter plane. “Captain Bisc.hoff was the pilot and sole occupant of a P-38 type aircraft which was engaged in a strafing mission on 10 June 1944. He flew down to strafe a locomotive and the right wing of his plane came in contact with the locomotive as. he banked away. * * * [The plane] crashed and burned * * *. The remains of the pilot were recovered and buried.”

The policy in suit, like that in Boye v. United Services Life Ins. Co., 83 U.S.App.D.C. 306, 168 F.2d 570, limits recovery (with irrelevant exceptions) to premiums paid if death is “due to operating or riding in any kind of aircraft * * *; any provision in this Policy to the contrary notwithstanding.” Risks of war are not excepted from this general aviation exclusion clause. Since the exclusion is unqualified it applies equally to all risks, whether of war or of peace, that result from operating or riding in airplanes.- Accordingly there can be no recovery in this suit. It is immaterial that the policy is declared to be “free from restrictions as to residence, travel, occupation, or military or. naval service.” This latter clause means among other things that the policy does not exclude all war risks. It does not mean that the policy covers all war risks.

Reversed.

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EDGERTON, Circuit Judge.

The insurance company appeals from a judgment for the beneficiary in a suit on a policy. The insured, an army captain, , was killed in action piloting a fighter plane. “Captain Bisc.hoff was the pilot and sole occupant of a P-38 type aircraft which was engaged in a strafing mission on 10 June 1944. He flew down to strafe a locomotive and the right wing of his plane came in contact with the locomotive as. he banked away. * * * [The plane] crashed and burned * * *. The remains of the pilot were recovered and buried.”

The policy in suit, like that in Boye v. United Services Life Ins. Co., 83 U.S.App.D.C. 306, 168 F.2d 570, limits recovery (with irrelevant exceptions) to premiums paid if death is “due to operating or riding in any kind of aircraft * * *; any provision in this Policy to the contrary notwithstanding.” Risks of war are not excepted from this general aviation exclusion clause. Since the exclusion is unqualified it applies equally to all risks, whether of war or of peace, that result from operating or riding in airplanes.- Accordingly there can be no recovery in this suit. It is immaterial that the policy is declared to be “free from restrictions as to residence, travel, occupation, or military or. naval service.” This latter clause means among other things that the policy does not exclude all war risks. It does not mean that the policy covers all war risks.

Reversed.

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Bluebook (online)

181 F.2d 627, 86 U.S. App. D.C. 328, 1950 U.S. App. LEXIS 2669, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-services-life-ins-co-v-bischoff-cadc-1950.

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