Rice v. Morris Plan Life Insurance Co.
Rice v. Morris Plan Life Insurance Co.
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
This suit was for benefits claimed to be due and payable on a life insurance policy covering Robert F. Rice, Jr., who died as the result of a gunshot wound on May 17, 1963. The trial court rendered a judgment non obstante veredicto in favor of the insurer, The Morris Plan Life Insurance Company, on the theory that the death resulted from suicide as a matter of law, which precluded recovery.
If in a test of the evidence we become convinced that the fact of suicide was established as a matter of law, judgment should be affirmed. In this particular case the only possible hypothesis would be that death was the result of either accident or suicide.
We are frank to state that but for the opinion of the Supreme Court in Prudential Insurance Company of America v. Krayer, 366 S.W.2d 779 (Tex.Sup., 1963) reversing Krayer v. Prudential Insurance Company of America, 360 S.W.2d 844 (Fort Worth Civ.App., 1962) our conclusion in the instant case would be contrary to that of the trial court. This would be because of the absence of direct evidence which established that the deceased actually did intend to destroy his own life at the particular time and place in question — and that he did in fact accomplish such intent by shooting into his own head with his own hand the bullet which caused the wound from which he died. In view of the decision of the Supreme Court in Krayer our conclusion is that the jury necessarily had to resort to pure fantasy and speculation to conclude that the deceased died as the result of a gunshot wound which was accidently inflicted ; and that as a matter of law a “take nothing” judgment in favor of the insurance company was compelled in that the fact of suicide was established as a matter of law.
In arriving at such conclusion we have recognized and taken into consideration our obligation to disregard evidence in favor of the insurance company on the material issue where there is contradictory evidence in favor of the beneficiary under the insurance policy. We do not, however, disregard evidence in favor of the insurance company which is not in dispute.
With such done we have the circumstance on Friday May 17, 1963, of a sixteen year old youth, student at a local high school,
The revolver in question was one with which the youth was familiar, having been acquainted therewith in actual field use under the instruction of his father. He had, however, been instructed not to “play with” nor handle the revolver in the absence of his father.
In a reconstruction of some of the circumstances relative to the firing of the fatal shot it was established that the revolver had been fired at a forty-five (45) degree angle, pointing upward, so that the bullet therefrom — after passing through the head of the deceased — struck the wall about five feet from the floor immediately behind a bench situated against the same wall. Further, the bullet entered the deceased’s forehead at about the center and passed out of the back of his head about the back hairline at approximately the juncture of the spine. The nature and shape of the wound at point of bullet entry and presence of powder particles inside the wound were of such nature as would have necessarily required the muzzle of the gun to be either adjacent or in near proximity to the head when it was discharged. The shell was so marked by the firing pin as to establish that the revolver had been at “full cock” when the force was applied which occasioned the striking of the pin against the loaded shell. In the instant case there was conflicting evidence upon the matter of whether jarring as by a drop on the floor would or would not permit or cause the revolver to fire. Therefore, we are obliged to treat it as a weapon which would fire as the result of such an occurrence.
It is the theory of the insurance company that the deceased youth held out in front of his forehead the “cocked” revolver, and intentionally discharged it by pressure on the trigger by a thumb. The theory of its adversary is that he dropped it while in a “cocked” position to that it struck butt-foremost against the carpeted floor and as result thereof was accidentally discharged.
To find in accord with the latter theory it would be necessary to believe that the deceased bent over to regain control of the dropped revolver so quickly (whether from a seated or standing position) that he simultaneously got his forehead in close proximity to its barrel when the butt struck the floor. The jury would, furthermore, necessarily have been obliged to believe that in grasping for the falling weapon the deceased tilted his head forward much further than would be the case as applied to one looking at an object he was seeking to grasp. Evidently the jury accepted such theory for their finding was in accord.
Judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.