N.Y. Life Unit Owes Accident Benefits for Drunk Driving Death

Life Insurance Co. of North America owes accidental death benefits to the father of a man who crashed his car while intoxicated and driving at high speed on the wrong side of the road, the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday.

The dispute turns on the proper standard for determining when a death is accidental—specifically, whether it’s “highly likely” or only “reasonably foreseeable” that death will result from a given activity. The stricter “highly likely” standard applies in this case, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said, because LINA used this standard in denying Scott Wolf’s claim for benefits ...