Duvall v. Massachusetts Indemnity & Life Insurance

I dissent from that part of the majority opinion which holds that the insured’s death was not accidental under the language of the insurance policy. The majority opinion is based upon the single idea that because the death was caused in part by a pre-existing disease, it could not be “accidental” under the policy. Such an approach not only oversimplifies the issue, but also is clearly wrong in light of previous cases decided by this Court.

The overwhelming majority of our cases dealing with accident insurance claims have been concerned with policy language which limited recovery to injuries…