Wommack v. Shenandoah Life Insurance

MEMORANDUM DECISION

NICHOL, Chief Judge.

In this court trial plaintiff Wommack, a citizen of South Dakota, is suing Shenan*758doah Life Insurance Co., a Virginia corporation, under the double indemnity Accidental Death and Dismemberment provision of his wife’s group life insurance policy. This policy provision promises to pay the plaintiff $17,500 if death should occur from “bodily injuries solely through violent, external and accidental means.”

Mrs. Wommack died on August 10, 1977. On this evening, Mrs. Wommack and her husband, the plaintiff in this action, had been drinking beer and conversing…