Ridgely v. Ætna Life Insurance

Headnote

Ridgely v. Ætna Life Ins. Co., 160 App. Div. 719 , affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the first judicial department, entered March 5, 1914, reversing a judgment in favor of plaintiff entered upon a decision of the court at a Trial

Term without a jury and directing judgment in favor of plaintiff for a nominal amount in an action to recover upon a policy of accident insurance for injuries received by him while personally flying in and navigating a Curtiss biplane. The plaintiff in his application stated that his business was that of “financial writer and- reporter.” The contentions of the insurance company were: First, that the plaintiff was engaged in an act pertaining to an occupation rated as more hazardous than that of financial writer and reporter, and under the terms of the policy could recover only a reduced indemnity, and, secondly, that the necessary inference from the evidence was that the plaintiff did have in contemplation when he took out the policy of insurance a hazardous occupation of flying in an aeroplane, and so was guilty of breach of warranty and could not recover at all.