Benavides v. J.C. Penney Life Ins. Co., No. 94-1355

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Iowa
• Writing for the Court: Considered by McGIVERIN; TERNUS
• Citation: 539 N.W.2d 352
• Parties: Paubla BENAVIDES, Administrator of the Estate of Martin Benavides, Deceased, Appellant, v. J.C. PENNEY LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee.
• Decision Date: 25 October 1995
• Docket Number: No. 94-1355

Page 352

539 N.W.2d 352 Paubla BENAVIDES, Administrator of the Estate of Martin Benavides, Deceased, Appellant,
v.
J.C. PENNEY LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee. No. 94-1355. Supreme Court of Iowa. Oct. 25, 1995.
Rehearing Denied Nov. 17, 1995.

Page 353

Dean T. Jennings of McGinn, McGinn & Jennings, Council Bluffs, for appellant.

John M. French and Frederick T. Harris of Kennedy, Holland, DeLacy & Svoboda, Council Bluffs, for appellee.

Considered by McGIVERIN, C.J., and LARSON, CARTER, NEUMAN, and TERNUS, JJ.

TERNUS, Justice.

Martin Benavides died in his closed garage at the wheel of his parked car after spending ten hours at his favorite bar. The medical examiner concluded that Benavides died of carbon monoxide poisoning; alcohol ¹ intoxication was listed as a contributing factor. The district court ruled as a matter of law that Benavides' estate could not recover under a life insurance policy issued to Benavides by appellee, J.C. Penney Life Insurance

Page 354

Company. We agree the insurance policy's intoxication exclusion precludes recovery by the estate as a matter of law. Therefore, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment to the insurance company.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

Because the district court decided this case on a motion for summary judgment, we review the whole record in a light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. Farm & City Ins. Co. v. Anderson, 509 N.W.2d 487, 489 (Iowa 1993). The record contains the following undisputed facts.

J.C. Penney Life Insurance Company issued a life insurance policy to Martin Benavides. That policy contained an exclusion for death resulting from "an injury occurring while the [insured] is intoxicated." The policy was in effect on June 3, 1992, the date that Martin Benavides died.

Before his death, Benavides had been drinking alcohol for ten hours at a bar he typically frequented. At 1:30 a.m. he left the bar and apparently drove home without incident. As he drove into his garage, however, he grazed the garage door with his car, causing slight damage to the door and scrapes on the side of his car. He parked his car at such an unusual angle that the interior door between the garage and the house could not be opened.

On the afternoon of June 4, 1992, Benavides' fiancee discovered Benavides' lifeless body in the garage. Several facts are worth noting: the garage door was down; the ignition was on but the engine was not running; the headlights were off; the car radio was turned on, but not working because the battery was drained; Benavides was wearing his seat belt; and Benavides' feet were on the accelerator and the brake.

An autopsy conducted fourteen hours after the body was discovered revealed a blood alcohol level of .290. The physician conducting the autopsy noted that alcohol can form in decomposed bodies; however, the blood alcohol level here was so elevated that it indicated "significant" alcohol consumption before death. The medical examiner listed carbon monoxide poisoning from the car's exhaust as the cause of death, but he also found alcohol intoxication to be a contributing factor.

Benavides' fiancee stated that Benavides got drunk almost every night and it would not be unusual for him to pass out at the wheel. Moreover, witnesses interviewed by the police denied that Benavides had any motivation or desire to commit suicide.

Appellant, Paubla Benavides, as administrator of the Estate of Martin Benavides, sued J.C. Penney Life Insurance Company to collect benefits under the life insurance policy. Both parties filed motions for summary judgment. The district court overruled the estate's motion and granted the insurer's motion, ruling as matter of law that the intoxication exclusion precluded recovery under the policy. The estate appealed.

II. Scope of Review.

We review a summary judgment ruling on error. Farm & City Ins. Co., 509 N.W.2d at 489. In doing so, we examine the record before the district court to decide whether a genuine issue of material fact exists and whether the court correctly applied the law. Id.

III. Intoxication.

The estate claims that a factual question exists concerning whether Benavides was intoxicated at the time of his death. A fact issue will preclude summary judgment when reasonable minds would differ on how to resolve that issue. Central Nat'l Ins. Co. v. Insurance Co. of N. Am., 522 N.W.2d 39, 42 (Iowa 1994). Therefore, we examine the record to determine whether reasonable minds would disagree on whether Benavides was intoxicated. Before we can do that, however, we must know the meaning of the term "intoxicated."

A. Meaning of the word "intoxicated." The life insurance policy defines the term "intoxicated":

INTOXICATED means that which is determined and defined by the laws and jurisdiction of that geographical area where the Loss or cause of Loss was incurred.

Page 355

The policy defines the term "Loss" to include death. Therefore, the term "intoxicated" has the meaning given it by the laws of Iowa, the state where Benavides died. Brown v. J.C. Penney Life Ins. Co., 861 S.W.2d 834, 836 (Tenn.Ct.App.1992) (interpreting same definition to require the application of the laws of Tennessee--the location of the insured's death).

A ready source of statutory and case law concerning the meaning of "intoxicated" arises from Iowa's prohibition of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. See Iowa Code § 321J.2 (1995). This offense can be committed in two ways: (1) operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, id. § 321J.2(1)(a); or (2) operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of .10 or more, id. § 321J.2(1)(b). The estate argues that our cases interpreting the first alternative should supply the definition of "intoxicated," whereas the insurer contends that "intoxicated" is appropriately defined by the legal limit specified in the second alternative.

We reject the insurer's argument that "intoxicated" is the equivalent of having a...