Burkhard v. Travellers' Insurance Co. of Hartford
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to the Court of Common Pleas No. 2, of Philadelphia county: Of January Term 1883, No. 137. Debt, by Leonard Burkhard, Sr., administrator of Leonard Burkhard, Jr., detíeased, against the Travellers’ Insurance Co., of Hartford, Connecticut, upon a policy or ticket of accident insurance, issued to the said Leonard Burkhard, Jr., in the sum of $3,000. The policy contained, inter alia, the following clauses: “ Provided always that this insurance shall not extend to any case…
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Error to the Court of Common Pleas No. 2, of Philadelphia county: Of January Term 1883, No. 137. Debt, by Leonard Burkhard, Sr., administrator of Leonard Burkhard, Jr., detíeased, against the Travellers’ Insurance Co., of Hartford, Connecticut, upon a policy or ticket of accident insurance, issued to the said Leonard Burkhard, Jr., in the sum of $3,000. The policy contained, inter alia, the following clauses: “ Provided always that this insurance shall not extend to any case . . . when the death or injury may have happened in consequence of . . . voluntary exposure to unnecessary danger,…
1Opinion of the CourtChief Justice Mercur
*266This case arises on a contract of insurance against injuries and death through external, violent, and accidental means. The death of the intestate was so caused. The general terms of the policy are broad enough to make the company liable. It claims exemption therefrom under certain exceptions in the policy. What rule then must be applied in the interpretation of this contract and its exceptions ?
The true principle of sound ethics, says Chancellor Kent, is to give the contract the sense in which the person making the promise believes the other party to have accepted it. A just sense should be…
2Cases cited5 opinions
- Allen v. . St. Louis Insurance Co.New York Court of Appeals · 1881
- Insurance Company v. SlaughterSupreme Court of the United States · 1871
- Bartlett v. Union Mutual Fire InsuranceSupreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1859
- Morel v. Mississippi Valley Life InsuranceCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1868
- Bowman v. Pacific InsuranceSupreme Court of Missouri · 1858
3Cited by25 opinions
- Iwanicki v. State Industrial Accident CommissionOregon Supreme Court · 1922
- Burns v. Employers' Liability Assurance Corp.Ohio Supreme Court · 1938
- Empire Life Insurance v. AllenSupreme Court of Georgia · 1914
- Humphreys v. Nat'l Benefit Ass'nSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1891
- Tennant v. Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & InsuranceSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1944
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