When did the War Begin?

Abstract

The Circuit Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit, recently had occasion to decide a life insurance case, New York Life Insurance Co. v. Bennion,' the determination of which involved the interesting question, When did the begin for the United States ? Mrs. Louise Bennion sued the New York Life Insurance Company for the double indemnity of $10,000 due her in the event of the death of her husband by accident. Her husband, Captain Bennion, was killed when his ship was sunk at Pearl Harbor in the Japanese attack December 7, 1941. The company duly paid the principal sum due under the policy, $10,000. However, the policy excepted from the liability for double indemnity an accident which occurred in war or an act incident thereto, so that if Pearl Harbor involved double indemnity was not due. The issue turned on the question whether this country was at when Pearl Harbor was attacked, or only got into when Congress declared war, December 8, 1941, 4:10 p.m., i.e., whether the Pearl Harbdr attack occurred in time of peace, as Mrs. Bennion, the plaintiff, contended, or whether the attack was itself an act of war. The company had no difficulty in proving that every one regarded the attack as an act of war, and in holding for the insurance company, the court stated that it is commonly known that Pearl Harbor commenced the war.2 Reaching this result would have presented no difficulty but for the fact that in every other state and federal case which had involved deaths occurring at Pearl Harbor, the court had found against the insurance company. These cases were four in number: Savage v. Sun Life Assurance Co.,3 Pang v. Sun Life Assurance Co.,4 Rosenau v. Idaho Mutual Benefit Association,5 and West v. Palmetto State Life Insurance Co.6 These opinions are to be explained perhaps as motivated by the hysteria, partly on the ground that they were based upon the stipulation that the declaration of by Congress, December 8, 1941, at 4:10 p.m. was the first act of of the political department,7 and partly as the result of the prejudice against insurance companies prevailing in certain courts. Whatever the explanation may be, these courts decided