Odell v. McGovern

An applicant for accidental death benefits under the Civil Service Law must at least demonstrate that by the “ common-sense viewpoint of the average man ” the death was an accident (see Matter of Masse v. Robinson Co., 301 N. Y. 34, 37). If reasonable minds might fairly differ in respect to a particular application of that test, then the Comptroller’s independent judgment must be accepted (see Matter of Trowbridge, 266 N. Y. 283, 289). Upon this record we conclude that it cannot be said as a matter of law that the decedent’s death was the natural and proximate result of an accident and that…