BAKER v. STANDARD ACCIDENT INS. Co.

BAKER v. STANDARD ACCIDENT INS. Co.
1926 OK 868
250 P. 787
122 Okla. 43
Case Number: 17333
Decided: 11/09/1926
Supreme Court of Oklahoma

BAKER
v.
STANDARD ACCIDENT INS. Co.

Syllabus

¶0 Insurance--Accident Insurance -- Action to Recover for Death at Hands of Robbers--Sufficiency of Petition. Where the beneficiary alleges, in the language of an accident policy, that the insured met his death "from bodily injuries effected, directly, exclusively and independently of all other causes through external, violent, and accidental means, in this, to wit, that the insured was then and there attacked by highway robbers, who so externally, violently, and accidentally struck, beat, and bruised the insured and so overpowered him that they were enabled to strip him of his clothing, and did then and there take his money and did punch and beat the insured with guns, and that as a result of such striking and beating by said robbers in and upon the body of the said insured he, the insured, did then and there, lingering about 30 minutes, die," a cause of action was pleaded in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant, and an order sustaining a demurrer to the petition on the ground the petition did not allege therein a cause of action was erroneous.

Saunders & Emerick, for plaintiff in error.
E. C. Stanard and M. L. Hankins, for defendant in error.

BRANSON, V. C. J.

¶1 The plaintiff, Lettie E. Baker, sued the defendant, Standard Accident Insurance Company, a corporation, in the superior court of Pottawatomie county. Judgment was rendered sustaining a general demurrer and dismissing her amended petition, from which she appeals. The parties are referred to as plaintiff and defendant, as they appeared in the trial court. The amended petition, omitting the formal parts, and after stating that the plaintiff is a resident of Pottawatomie county and that the defendant is a corporation and duly licensed to carry on an insurance business in the state of Oklahoma, specifically pleads:

"That on or about May 3, 1923, in consideration of the payment of the premium to the defendant in the sum of $ 50.40, which was duly paid to the defendant, the said defendant made, executed, and delivered its certain policy of insurance in writing, the same being insurance policy No. 47KA54,344, wherein and whereby the defendant company insured Henry Baker against loss resulting from bodily injury effected, directly, exclusively and independently of all other causes through external, violent and accidental means, and which policy contains the conditions and provision that in the event the said Henry Baker should lose his life through external, violent and accidental means, the said defendant would pay to the plaintiff, as the wife and beneficiary of the said Henry Baker, the sum of $ 2,000. A copy of said insurance policy is attached hereto marked for identification, Exhibit 'A' and made a part of this petition.

"That on March 20, 1925, and while said insurance policy was in full force and effect, the said Henry Baker in the town of Sayre, Okla., met his death and lost his life as a result effected directly, exclusively and independently of all other causes through external, violent and accidental means, in this, that the said Henry Baker was then and there attacked by highway robbers, who so externally, violently and accidentally struck, beat and bruised the said Henry Baker and so overpowered him that they were enabled to strip him of his clothing, and did then and there take his money and did punch and beat the said Henry Baker, with guns, and as a result of such striking and beating by said robbers in and upon the body of the said Henry Baker, he the said Henry Baker did then and there lingering about 30 minutes, die. "