Hutchinson v. Liberty Life Insurance

Petitioner is the beneficiary of a mortgage life insurance policy. She brought this suit against respondent, the insurer, after it denied her benefits under an exclusion for injury resulting from the insured’s being “under the influence of any narcotic.” It is undisputed that petitioner’s decedent was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of his accidental death. The circuit court granted petitioner summary judgment holding that methamphetamine is not a narcotic. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding the plain and ordinary meaning of narcotic in an insurance policy to a…