## Facts

- Mutual Life Insurance Company issued two life insurance policies on J.H. Newton’s life naming Mrs. Newton as beneficiary.
- The policies required payment within ninety days after due notice and proof of death, but were void if the insured died “by his own hand.”
- J.H. Newton died in Los Angeles in June 1870.
- In August 1870, Mrs. Newton’s father, acting as her agent, delivered to the insurer’s St. Louis agent written proofs of death, including affidavits and a coroner’s inquest record stating death was caused by a pistol shot fired by a pistol in the insured’s own hand.
- The insurer did not object to the form or completeness of the proofs, but refused payment on the ground that the proofs showed suicide and thus triggered the suicide exclusion.
- At trial, after the plaintiff rested, the insurer offered the preliminary proofs into evidence; the trial court excluded them.
- The trial court instructed the jury that, because the insurer accepted the proofs as sufficient and denied only on suicide, a defense based on lack of notice and proof of death was not sustained; the jury returned a verdict for Mrs. Newton.

## Issues

1. Whether the insurer’s statements accepting the proofs as sufficient could be treated as an admission of death while disregarding the simultaneous qualification that the proofs showed suicide.
2. Whether preliminary proofs of death submitted to satisfy a policy condition are admissible as prima facie evidence of the facts stated, against the beneficiary and for the insurer.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed and remanded.
- The Court held that an admission relied on by a party must be taken as a whole, including qualifications that limit or negate its effect.
- The Court held that preliminary proofs of death submitted in compliance with an insurance policy are admissible as prima facie evidence of the facts stated, against the insured/beneficiary and in favor of the insurer.
- The trial court erred by excluding the preliminary proofs and by effectively severing the admission of death from the accompanying statement that the death was self-inflicted.

## Legal Principles

- A party cannot rely on only the favorable portion of an admission; the admission must be received in its entirety, including any qualifying statements that modify or defeat it.
- Preliminary proofs of death or loss furnished to satisfy a policy condition are admissible as prima facie evidence of the facts asserted in those proofs, for the insurer and against the claimant.
- When proofs submitted to establish coverage also contain statements supporting an exclusion (such as suicide), they may be used by the insurer to support that contractual defense.

## Conclusion

The Court required that the insurer’s acceptance of the proofs be considered together with the insurer’s stated reason for denial (suicide) and held that the claimant’s preliminary proofs were admissible as prima facie evidence for the insurer, warranting reversal and remand for a new determination with that evidence before the factfinder.


Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Newton, 89 U.S. 32 (1874)