Linstedt v. National Casualty Co.
Linstedt v. National Casualty Co.
Opinion of the Court
The appellant, in consideration of certain premiums paid it, insured the respondent against loss of time, resulting from bodily injuries “effected directly and independently of all other causes through external, violent and accidental means.” The amount of the insurance was made to depend on the extent of the disability caused by the injury, and it was provided that, if the injuries were sustained while riding as a passenger within the enclosed part of any rail
In his complaint the respondent alleged that proper notice and proof of the accident and the resulting injuries sustained by the respondent therefrom had been given to the appellant. In its answer the appellant admitted that such proofs were furnished, but alleged that they were so furnished at a particular date, and that the action had not been begun within six months from the time of furnishing such proofs as required by the policy. The respondent for reply alleged that the proofs to which the appellant referred in its answer were not final proofs but proofs made in furtherance of the negotiations between the parties for a settlement, and set forth that the terms of the policy requiring final proofs had been waived.
At the trial, after the respondent announced that he had closed his evidence in chief, the appellant moved for a non-suit on the grounds that the action had not been begun within six months of the making of proofs of loss, and that the matter set up in the reply was a departure from the cause of action alleged in the complaint. The respondent there-
“A departure in pleading takes place when, in a subsequent pleading, a party deserts the ground taken in his last antecedent pleading and resorts to another. Here there was no desertion of the cause of action set out in the complaint. The respondent was still compelled, in order to recover, to prove the principal allegations of his complaint, and the most that can be said against the pleading is that the entire cause of action is not set out in the complaint. But to set out a part of the cause of action in the complaint and the balance in the reply is not a departure in pleading, however defective the pleading may otherwise be. Neither is it the proper remedy for such a defect to go to trial and object to the introduction of evidence. The pleading should be moved against, so that the pleader may have an opportunity to correct it without the delay and expense of taking a nonsuit and commencing his action over again.”
The remaining objections go to the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict and judgment. We can conceive, however, of no useful purpose in setting forth a review of the evidence on the objections made. It is sufficient to say that, in our judgment, there was substantial evidence on every material allegation necessary to be proven.
The judgment is affirmed.
Crow, C. J., Main, and Ellis, JJ., concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Nels C. K. Linstedt v. National Casualty Company
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Pleading — Reply—Departure—Action on Policy os Insurance— Waiver op Loss. In an action upon a policy of accident insurance, it is not a departure, after answer alleging that the action had not been commenced within six months after the furnishing of the proofs of loss alleged in the complaint as required by the policy, for the plaintiff to reply that the proofs set out in the complaint were only preliminary proofs, and that the final proofs of loss required by the policy had been waived by the defendant.