55 Ga. App. 342 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1937
On August 6, 1919, the plaintiff in error issued to Mrs. Helen E. McDevitt a policy of insurance which provided, among other things, that ‘“The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, in consideration of an additional premium of . . , doth hereby agree, that if, while the above-numbered policy is in full force and effect and before default in the payment of any premium, the company receives due proof that the insured, as the result of injury or disease occurring and originating after the issu
1. While we may agree that under the terms of the policy the insurer would not be liable for any injury or disease occurring and originating before the issuance of the policy, and while it may further appear that the insured had been treated for impairment of her hearing or at least for some trouble with her ears before the issuance of the policy, it does not appear by evidence that a continuation of this prior trouble was a continuation of the disease that twelve jrears later caused her total deafness. The judge was warranted in finding that the disease shown or complained of
2. At the time of the issuance of the policy the insured was making $90 per month as a stenographer. She married in 1924, and gave birth to a child in October, 1925. She gave up her position as stenographer in February, 1925. She testified: “When I had to give up that position I could not hold it because I could not come up to the requirements of my position. I was a nervous wreck. I could not take dictation. . . I could not answer the telephone. I could not talk to anybody or answer questions. I was a wreck; so I quit. Since I gave up my position I have not been engaged in any occupation or business for compensation or profit. I have not been able to get anything.” The evidence discloses that she had been doing housework since that time and gave birth to another child in 1934. She testified that she had been totally deaf since 1931, and her claim was filed with the insurer in 1934. Under the evidence the insured did not become totally deaf until January, 1931. She had not worked as a stenographer since March, 1925. Her first child was born in October, 1925. Under the evidence, she is totally incapacitated to perform the duties of a stenographer. There is no evidence in the record that she has had to depend on her earning capacity as a stenographer for a living. In Cato v. Ætna Life Insurance Co., 164 Ga. 392 (138 S. E. 787), it was. said: “Total disability exists when one is totally disabled from pursuing the usual and customary duties of his employment on which he depends for a living.” In Pru
Judgment reversed.