Bruce v. Cuna Mut. Ins. Soc.

• Decision Date: 20 September 1996
• Docket Number: Docket No. 179272
• Citation: 219 Mich.App. 57,555 N.W.2d 718
• Parties: Judy L. BRUCE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. CUNA MUTUAL INSURANCE SOCIETY, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

Page 718

555 N.W.2d 718

219 Mich.App. 57

Judy L. BRUCE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. CUNA MUTUAL INSURANCE SOCIETY, Defendant-Appellant.

Docket No. 179272.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted June 6, 1996, at Grand Rapids.

Decided Sept. 20, 1996, 9:05 a.m.

Released for Publication Nov. 22, 1996.

Donald E. Cline, Jr., Saginaw, for plaintiff-appellee.

Menmuir, Zimmerman, Kuhn, Stephen, Anderson & Taylor by Dennis K. Taylor and R. Edward Kuhn, Traverse City, for defendant-appellant.

Before O'CONNELL, P.J., and SAWYER and G.R. CORSIGLIA, ^* JJ.

SAWYER, Justice.

Defendant appeals from the trial court's order granting summary disposition to plaintiff and entering a judgment in the amount of $161,000 plus costs and interest pursuant to an accidental death insurance policy issued by defendant. We affirm.

The facts before us are largely undisputed. This case involves a suit on an accidental death insurance policy in which plaintiff's decedent, Michael H. McDowell, died of alcohol poisoning on October 2, 1992. A friend who was with the decedent on the night of his death stated that he and several other friends picked up the decedent and drove him to a store where he purchased two cases of beer. Apparently, the decedent was fairly intoxicated when he was picked up. By the time they arrived at a house for a party, the decedent had fallen asleep in the car. Subsequently, the decedent collapsed after he stumbled out of the car and later died. An autopsy was performed and it was determined that the cause of death was the decedent's high blood alcohol level, which indicated that his blood alcohol content was 0.40 percent at the time of death.

Subsequently, plaintiff contacted defendant, which denied plaintiff benefits as a beneficiary of the insurance policy. In a letter dated, December 10, 1992, defendant based the denial on the following exclusion:

8. voluntary use of any drug, medicine, or sedative, except as prescribed by a physician.

Thereafter, plaintiff again requested benefits in a letter that enclosed an amended certificate of death issued on April 26, 1993, which indicated that McDowell's death was accidental. In June 1993, defendant again denied plaintiff benefits under the policy, citing the following exclusions:

2. intentionally self-inflicted injury; or

* * * * * *

8. voluntary use of any drug, medicine, or sedative, except as prescribed by a physician.

Defendant argues that the court erred and that recovery is precluded because the decedent knowingly ingested a large quantity of alcohol that he knew would make him sick, even if he did not believe that it would cause his death. They further argue that the exclusion for intentional injury is not ambiguous and applies in this case because the decedent knew his intoxication would cause injury even though he did not intend or expect death to result. We review a grant of summary disposition de novo, Michigan Mutual Ins. Co. v. Dowell, 204 Mich.App. 81, 85-86, 514 N.W.2d 185 (1994), and review the record in the same manner as the trial court to determine whether the movant was entitled to judgment as a matter of law, Borman v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., 198 Mich.App. 675, 678, 499 N.W.2d 419 (1993), aff'd 446 Mich. 482, 521 N.W.2d 266 (1994).

In its most recent opinions on the subject of insurance policy exclusions for intentional acts, the Michigan Supreme Court has held that, absent contractual language establishing either an objective standard or otherwise defining "accidental," the accidental nature of the event must be evaluated from the injured person's perspective. Auto Club Group Ins. Co. v. Marzonie, 447 Mich. 624, 527 N.W.2d 760 (1994); Buczkowski v. Allstate Ins. Co., 447 Mich. 669, 526 N.W.2d 589 (1994). In...