MALLFIELD’S DEATH

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 306, 20 September 1921, Page 6

MALLFIELD’S DEATH

CLAIM UNDER LIFE INSURANCE POLICY WIDOW SUES FOR £5OOO By Telegraph--Press Association. Auckland,. September 19. To-day, in the Supreme Court, the hearing of lhe claim for .£5OOO by Mrs. Lucy Smallfield, widow of Cecil R. Smallfield, stock agent, of Hamilton, against tho Government Life Assurance Commissioner, was the subject of an application by the Commissioner, who sought a stay of proceedings on the ground that when the writ was issued there were points in dispute in the terms of the policy, and that these must be settled by arbitration. Mr. H. H. Ostler, counsel for Mrs. Smallfield, objected, and the case was proceeded with. Mr. Ostler said that in the second policy over the deceased’s life, for £lO,OOO, there was no provision for arbitration, and the widow’s claim thereunder was coming before the Court in November. | Mr. M'Veagh, who appeared for the Commissioner, recounted the circumstances of Smallfield’s death and inquest, at which the coroner found that death was due to heart failure. This was followed by the exhumation of the body and a verdict against heart failure; but it came out that carbolic acid was found in the remains of the deceased. The arbitration clause in the policy under consideration was imperative. Mr. M'Veagh read a number of letters from the Commissioner, in one of which, dated July 22, he wrote: "And the question of Smallfleld committing suicide, which I allege he did, arises. I submit that the policy is void."

Mr. Justice Adams: The Commissioner sets up that his own policy is void. This seems an excellent reason for having the claim heard by the Court if the question of the validity of the policy‘is to come up. After further argument His Honour reserved his decision.