Intoxicated Driver

Courts across the country have struggled with whether an accidental death insurance policy covers the death of a drunk driver.  Some courts have ruled that intoxicated drivers knowingly increase the risk of being involved in a fatal accident to the point that their death becomes foreseeable and thus, not accidental.  Other courts disagree, citing the fact that there is less than a 1% chance of an intoxicated driver being involved in a fatal accident. […]

An accidental death insurance policy will pay benefits when the insured dies as a result of an accident. But when the insured dies in an auto accident with a high blood alcohol rate is that an accident? Metropolitan Life Insurance Company recently denied a widow life insurance benefits when her husband died in a single car accident while driving home from his brother’s house. Met Life claimed that since decedent had been drinking beer before driving that the accident was not an accident under the law. […]