Chappell v. Commercial Casualty Insurance

Hatcher, Judge:

An accident insurance policy excluded any disability sustained by the insured “while participating in aeronautics.’' The insured was killed in an airplane accident, on a flight as guest passenger. The circuit court adjudged that the policy exclusion did not apply to this fatality.

The insurance company relies on the pioneer case of Bew v. Ins. Co., (1921) 95 N. J. L. 533, 112 Atl. 859, 14 A. L. R. 983, and several later cases which follow it. The Bew opinion reasoned in this manner: The flight of an airplane is aeronautical; a passenger participates in the flight; therefore, he…