# American Nat. Ins. Co. v. Rains

> Supreme Court of Alabama · December 2, 1926 · 215 Ala. 378

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/3250798

## Case

- **Full name:** American Nat. Ins. Co. v. Rains.
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Alabama
- **Decided:** December 2, 1926
- **Citations:** 215 Ala. 378; 110 So. 606; 1926 Ala. LEXIS 455
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Somerville
- **Judges:** Gardner, Anderson, Sayre, Thomas, Miller, Bouldin, Somerville
- **Cited by:** 9 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/3250798

## Opinion text

SOMERVILLE, J.
(dissenting). I do not think that a lay witness should be allowed to testify that another person is or was in sound health or good health as a matter of actual, physical fact. Chronic and dangerous diseases of some of the vital organs may exist unsuspected, even by the patient himself, until a -fatal termination or a last fatal illness suddenly discloses their presence; and everyday observation and experience teaches us that no layman is qualified to give such art opinion, and, indeed, that no medical expert is so .qualified without a scientific and thorough examination of the subject, especially with respect to the functioning of the vital organs.
There is a substantial difference between testimony that a man is in sound health, and that he'appears to be in sound health, and I have found no judicial authority that recognizes the propriety of allowing a nonexpert witness to testify to another’s sound health
as a fact.
Moreover, it did not appear that this witness, though a son of the assured, was qualified even by
ordinary observation to
testify as to the state of his health; for, so far as the evidence showed, he may not have so much as seen his father within 10 or 20 years before his death. It should at least be shown that a health witness is qualified by knowledge sufficient to warrant an opinion on the subject.
t
GARDNER, J., concurs in these dissenting views.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/3250798. Public record. Not legal advice.