Mutual Life Insurance Co. of New York v. Hillmon
United States Supreme Court
145 U.S. 285 (1892)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Sallie Hillmon (plaintiff) brought suit against her insurance company, Mutual Life (defendant), to recover on her husband’s life-insurance policy. However, there was a question of whether a body found in Crooked Creek was actually her husband’s or that of another man, named Walters. In attempting to prove that Walters accompanied Sallie’s husband on his trip to Crooked Creek and so could have been the body recovered, Mutual Life sought to introduce into evidence two letters from Walters to his sister and fiancé sent before Sallie’s husband’s trip to Crooked Creek. The letters expressed Walters’s intent to accompany Sallie’s husband on the trip. The trial court excluded the letters as hearsay. Mutual Life appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Gray, J.)
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