Denial of Death Benefits Under Intoxication Exclusion OK’d

Unum Life Insurance Co. properly denied accidental death benefits to a man whose wife fell down a stairway while intoxicated because the plan administrator had discretion to deny the coverage, the Eighth Circuit said Tuesday.

A Maine law that prohibits health plans from from conferring absolute discretion on plan administrators didn’t apply to require the insurer to pay the benefits, as the accidental death and dismemberment policy wasn’t a health plan, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said.

Missouri resident Gary Williams found his wife dead at the bottom of a stairway. The death certificate deemed ...