Herndon v. Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society

This is a suit to collect the additional amount claimed to be due on a life insurance contract which provided for such payment when the insured died as the “result of bodily injury effected solely through external, violent and accidental means”.

The insured died as a result of injuries received in an automobile collision and it is therefore not in dispute that the “means” of the injuries were external and violent; the question is were they “accidental”.

It appears from the testimony that the deceased drove east on Eight Mile road in a westbound lane and collided practically head on with another…