Accident Death Insurance Questions and Answers
What qualifies as “accidental?
If the insurance policy does not define “accidental” or “accident” then one must look to the “reasonable expectations” of the insured. The Federal Court in the Ninth Circuit has defined “accident” as an unintended and unexpected event. The test the Ninth Circuit has set forth to determine if an event was unintended and unexpected is to determine whether a reasonable person with a similar background as the insured would have viewed the resulting death as substantially certain to result from the insured’s conduct. If so, then the death is not accidental.