Affiliations

• Sothern v. United States

  District Court, E.D. Arkansas · 1926-05-11 · cited 3×

  This case addressed whether a marriage entered into by a person who was insane at the time is wholly void and subject to collateral attack or only voidable through a direct proceeding. The court ruled that the marriage is wholly void, as if it had never occurred. The core reasoning was that marriage is a civil contract subject to the same rules as other contracts, and federal precedents such as Dexter v. Hall establish that contracts by lunatics or insane persons are absolute nullities that can be challenged in any proceeding, even without a prior adjudication of insanity. Because no Texas statute rendered such marriages merely voidable, the general rule applied.

  family lawprocedure

  Read the full opinion inline ▾ (777 words)

• Hearin v. Standard Life Ins. Co.

  District Court, E.D. Arkansas · 1925-10-19 · cited 20×

  The case involved a beneficiary's suit to recover on a life insurance policy issued in 1924, after the insured died by suicide in February 1925. The insurer refused payment, citing a policy clause excluding liability for self-destruction within the first year and offering to return premiums paid. The plaintiff demurred, arguing that the policy's incontestability clause after one year barred the defense and that no action to cancel the policy had been brought in time. The court overruled the demurrer, holding that insurance policies must be read as a whole and that the incontestability provision does not require the company to assume risks, such as suicide within one year, that it expressly excluded from coverage.

  business & regulatory

  Read the full opinion inline ▾ (3,671 words)