Show INSURANCE TO 61 PAID IN CASE of SUICIDE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT HAS SO DECIDED contract exempting the company from payment f not effective AB As against state law washington april 22 in deciding the case of amanda 8 whitfield of kansas city mo vs the aetna life insurance company of f hartford the supreme court of the tho united states favorably const construed nied the missouri state law providing that tho the of 1 ain an insured person shall not constitute a valid defense in resisting payment upon the policy the co company the opinion was delivered by jua jus uce harlan and reversed the decision of the coniah of eighth cirit which decisto was ilasin aln favor of the company the policy iri ili evolved was for upon tho the life of james whitfield husband of the plaintiff and was taken out about eighteen months before the death by suicide there wasa wasu clause exempting the th company from the payment of more than in the event of suicide and this claim the lower court award ed the court of appeals took the position that an expansive construction of the law would render the statute of tho the common law allowing freedom in contracts tho the court therefore held that the law could not properly bo be construed as prohibiting the right to classify risks which had been done in providing for the payment of only in case of the death of the insured by his own bands hands tho the supreme court took th the e opposite view I 1 |