310 Mass. 370 | Mass. | 1941
The defendant issued, in the State of Maine, a policy of insurance upon the life of one Francis C. Lee of Maine, in which the plaintiff was named the beneficiary, and which provided for the payment of double indemnity upon
The death of the insured followed the intentional and proper administration of an anesthetic. There was no mistake in the identity of the anesthetic, the quantity used, the place of application or the method by which it was employed. Every external act was done deliberately and voluntarily. There was no external accidental cause. That death supervened as an unforeseen or unexpected result of the administration of the anesthetic would not under our own law or that of various other jurisdictions prove that the death was caused by a “bodily injury effected solely through external, violent and accidental cause.” The liability is measured by these words; it does not extend to every accidental result but is limited to results that are produced by the cause described. Smith v. Travelers Ins. Co. 219 Mass. 147. Henderson v. Travelers Ins. Co. 262 Mass. 522. United States Mutual Accident Association v. Barry, 131 U. S. 100. Landress v. Phoenix Mutual Life Ins. Co. 291 U. S. 491. Order of United Commercial Travelers of America v. Shane, 64 Fed. (2d) 55. Pope v. Lincoln National Life Ins. Co. 103 Fed. (2d) 265. Northam v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. 231 Ala. 105. Ogilvie v. Aetna Life Ins. Co. 189 Cal. 406. Caldwell v. Travelers Ins. Co. 305 Mo. 619. McGinley v. John Hancock Mutual Life Ins. Co. 88 N. H. 108. Wiley v. Travelers Ins. Co. 119 N. J. L. 22. Burns v. Employers’ Liability Assurance Corp. Ltd. 134 Ohio St. 222. Hesse v. Traveler’s Ins. Co. 299 Penn. St. 125. Kimball v. Massachusetts Accident Co. 44 R. I. 264. Otey v. John Hancock Mutual Life Ins. Co. 120 W. Va. 434. Other jurisdictions including Maine, where the contract was made, and New York, where the death of the insured occtirred, have, however, declined to make any distinction between an accidental result and an accidental cause, and hold that a death resulting from the unforeseen, and ex
The contract of insurance was made in Maine and the rights of the parties are to be determined by the laws of that State. Millard v. Brayton, 177 Mass. 533. Russo v. Slawsby, 276 Mass. 126. Goewey v. Sanborn, 277 Mass. 168. Northwestern Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. McCue, 223 U. S. 234. John Hancock Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Yates, 299 U. S. 178. 2 Beale, Conflict of Laws, § 346.4. The law in that State appears to have been settled by McGlinchey v. Fidelity & Casualty Co. 80 Maine, 251. In that case it was held that the death of the insured, who was driving a horse that ran away, and who suffered so severely from fright or from exertion in bringing the horse under control without causing the carriage to be upset or to come into collision with some object that he died within an hour, was caused “by bodily injuries effected through external, violent and accidental means,” although there was no evidence that any external, violent force had been applied to his body. The reasoning of the court does not rest upon any distinction between external and accidental means and accidental results, but seems to be predicated entirely upon the proposition that the insured died in such a way that in the common judgment of men — which it is said is the common sense view and also the legal view — he died because of an accident and therefore by accidental means. This decision was held not applicable to the facts in Smith v. Travelers Ins. Co. 219 Mass. 147, 148, 149. The McGlinchey case was decided in 1888, and so far as we are aware has not
Exceptions overruled.