Connecticut General Life Insurance Co. v. Tommie

CORNELIUS, Chief Justice.

This is a suit upon a group insurance policy to recover accidental death benefits. Jerry Lee Tommie was insured under a Connecticut General group policy covering the employees of Texas Instruments, Inc. Kathern Lee Tommie and Edith Jones, Jerry’s wife and mother respectively, were named joint beneficiaries, and upon his death they demanded the $120,000.00 accidental death benefit provided by the policy. The insurer refused to pay on the grounds that Mr. Tommie’s death was not an accident and further was the result of either self-inflicted injury or disease.

The…