Inez W. Nicholas v. The Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Co.

WILLIAM E. MILLER, Circuit Judge.

In this diversity action we are required to consider a difficult and somewhat esoteric distinction, frequently articulated by the Tennessee courts, between “accidental means” and “accidental results” policies of insurance.

Plaintiff, Inez W. Nicholas, sued in the court below as the beneficiary of a policy of life insurance issued by defendant on the life of her son, Jerry Thomas Nicholas, to recover additional benefits under the policy if “the death of the insured resulted directly, and independently of all other causes, from accidental bodily injuries * * *.”…