Court denies accident benefit for drug overdose. (California Supreme Court)

National Underwriter Life & Health-Financial Services Edition, March, 1994 by Haggerty, Alfred G.

A lower court ruling that ordered Federal Kemper Life Assurance Co to pay a death benefit on a policyholder who perished after a fatal overdose of cocaine was overturned by the California Supreme Court. The Supreme Court overturned the ruling on the basis that a voluntary act in which a person could reasonably anticipate death or great bodily injury as a natural consequence was a death by accidental means that was not covered by a life insurance policy. The decision maintained the distinction between accidental means and accidental results contained in insurance policies.

The California Supreme Court has reversed a ruling which approved an accidental death benefit for a fatal overdose following the voluntary ingestion of cocaine.

The court ruled 5 to 2 that there...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.