DEATH IN MILITARY SERVICE
(g) DEATH OF INSURED IN MILITARY SERVICE.16
MILLER v. ILLINOIS BANKERS LIFE ASSN.
Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1919.
138 Ark. 442, 212 S. W. 310, 7 A. L. R. 378.
McCuLLOCH, C. J. Appellant instituted this action against appellee to recover on a life insurance policy issued by the latter on March 6, 1915, to Arl E. Miller, who died at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana, on December 26, 1917, while in the military service of our Government. Death of the insured resulted from pneumonia.
The facts of the case are undisputed, and the trial court decided that there was no liability under the policy, except to the extent of the small sum paid to the company by the insured as premiums. The policy contained the following clause:
"It is expressly provided that death while in the service in the army or navy of the Government in time of war is not a risk covered at any time during the continuance or reinstatement of this policy for any greater sum than the amounts actually paid to the company thereon." * * *
It is suggested by learned counsel for appellant that the above mentioned provisions exempting the company from liability under the circumstances named ought to be held void for the reason that
avoided. Supreme Lodge, K. P. v. Bradley (1904) 73 Ark. 274, 83 S. W. 1055, 67 L. R. A. 770, Comment (1905) 5 Colum. L. Rev. 327; Woodmen of the World v. Walters (1907) 124 Ky. 663, 99 S. W. 930. See also comment (1926) 4 Tenn. L. Rev. 150.
Cf. Standard Life &c. Ins. Co. v. Fraser (1896) 76 Fed. 705. See also 17 A. L. R. 1005 and 68 A. L. R. 166.
Suppose a policy provides for nonliability in case of death resulting from violation of law while insured is sane or insane. Is there liability if insanity is a defense to the crime? See the cases discussed in 35 A. L. R. 190.
t6 At the time of the outbreak of the World War, insurance companies were at a loss as to what sort of a clause should be incorporated into life policies to take care of the added hazard. Some companies exempted themselves from liability if the insured died while in military service, others only if the death resulted from military service and others required the giving of notice to the company at the time of entering the service, policy to be void for non-compliance except as to premiums paid, in case of death while in the service or as a result of the service. In most cases upon the giving of such notice the companies continued the policies without additional premium while the insured served in this country, but required an additional premium if the insured served abroad. After the war it appearing that losses would not be heavy many companies returned a part or all of such extra premiums distributing in this manner the slight war loss among all the policy holders. See Cohen, J. H., War Clause in Life Insurance Policies (1921) 21 Colum. L. Rev. 35. Mr. Cohen says (p. 39) : "The companies differed as to whether to distribute the possible losses from war casualties over the entire body of policyholders engaged in the service—it would, of course, be unfair, in the absence of more data on losses, to place the burden on the old policyholders—by charging a uniform fee regardless whether in service in this country or in France, or to exempt the ordinary soldier in this country from any extra charge, as long as he was not engaged in an extrahazardous branch of the service, and charge a flat fee as soon as the soldier went across."
