Harrell v. Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance Co.

OPINION

ANDERSON, Justice.

We granted this appeal to determine whether we should retain “the Distretti Rule 1 ” adopted by this Court sixty-seven years ago. The rule provides that before a death will be considered accidental under the terms of an insurance contract, the means, as well as the result, must be involuntary, unexpected, and unusual.

In this case, the Chancellor held that the plaintiffs death in an automobile collision was caused by her driving under the influence of an intoxicant, and it therefore was not “death by an accidental injury which was unintended, unexpected, and…