The deceased held an accidental death insurance policy with the appellant insurer that paid $1 million if he died in a common carrier accident.
The insurer claimed the deceased cancelled the policy over the phone in 1998.
After the deceased died in a plane crash in 2004, his estate and children sued, arguing the insurer cancelled the policy by mistake.
The trial judge admitted statements made by the deceased to his family after 1998 indicating his belief that the policy was still in effect under the state of mind exception to the hearsay rule.
The jury found for the plaintiffs.
On appeal, the Court of Appeal held that the trial judge erred in using the state of mind exception to prove past acts, but upheld the admission of the statements under the principled approach to hearsay due to sufficient threshold reliability.
The Court also held that s. 13 of the Evidence Act did not require corroboration for the children's testimony as they claimed as beneficiaries, not heirs.
The appeal was dismissed.
