LIFE INSURANCE COMPANIES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4201, 7 September 1874, Page 3

LIFE INSURANCE COMPANIES.

The responsibility of Life Insurance Companies is illustrated in the following cose, of which report has already been made in European telegrams : Beake v. the British Imperial Insurance Corporation (Limited). —-This was an action to recover £IOOO, the amount of a policy of insurance effected with the defendants on the life of a Dr. Beasley. Mr. Benjamin, Q.C. and Mr. E. Harrison were counsel for the plaintiff ; the Solicitor-General and Mr. G. Lewis appeared for the defendants. It appeared that Dr Beasley had been insured with the British Imperial Insurance Company for a few years. He was on a voyage to New Zealand in 1872, having previously obtained leave from the company to do so, andpaid the usual extra sum demanded for the risk. After a short stay at that Colony he returned Horae. Early last year he again started on a similar voyage, and soon after his arrival at New Zealand was accidentally drowned. His life policy for £IOOO having been assigned to another party, the plaintiff, as such assignee or his executor, claimed the amount from the defendants. His claim, however, being disputed, he brought the presept action. The insurance company put in a variety of pleas, but the main question raised was whether Dr. Beasley, in respect to his second voyage to New Zealand, had obtained leave and license from the insurance company to travel beyond Europe. On the part of the defendants, it was contended that no such leave had been given, and it was further objected that they had received no legal evidence of the death of Dr. Beasley in New Zealand or elsewhere. By a curious coincidence, however, one of the jurors stated that he was in New Zealand at the time, and could testify as to the truth of the fatal occurrence that occasioned the death of the gentleman in question. It was further argued, on behalf of the plaintiff, that the leave given to Dr. Beasley by the company to go to New Zealand, held good for twelve months, and that his death took place actually a day or two before its expiration. The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff for the amount claimed, with interest.