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Consumers Life Insurance Co. v. Smith4/1/1991
Consumers Life Ins. Co. (Consumers) appeals from the judgment of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County granting a motion for summary judgment filed by the plaintiff below, Patricia Ann Smith, appellee. Smith filed suit against Consumers to recover $10,000 accidental death and dismemberment benefits payable under a group policy insuring the life of her husband, Joseph M. Smith. The Court denied Consumer's motion for summary judgment and granted summary judgment in favor of Smith. In this appeal, we are asked to interpret in a group insurance policy the term "accidental bodily injury" and determine whether it includes injury occurring while the insured is
engaged in proscribed behavior, i.e., driving while legally intoxicated.
FACTS
On November 9, 1986, Joseph Smith was killed in a single car accident when the car he was driving left the roadway, struck a telephone pole and overturned. The police investigation revealed that the decedent's vehicle was travelling in excess of 60 miles per hour when it left the roadway. The post mortem examination further revealed that the decedent had a .20 percent blood alcohol concentration, indicating that he had been operating his vehicle while intoxicated.
The decedent was insured under a Group Term Life Insurance and Group Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance Policy with Consumers Life Insurance Co. This insurance policy provides for death benefits and double indemnity benefits in the event of "an accidental, bodily injury which results directly and independently of all other causes" and not from any of the excepted risks, i.e., suicide, intentionally self-inflicted injury, infection or disease, and war. Consumers paid the $10,000 death benefits but, because the decedent's death occurred during the operation of his motor vehicle while intoxicated, Consumers denied payment of the accidental death benefit on the ground that the death was not accidental within the terms of the policy.
I.
SUMMARY JUDGMENT
We are asked to determine whether the appellant, by refusing payment of certain benefits, breached its contract with the insured. The standard for appellate review of the grant of a motion for summary judgment is whether the
trial court erroneously granted summary judgment where there exists a genuine issue as to material facts in which case the movant is not entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Md.Rule 2-501(a). The function of the summary judgment procedure is "merely to determine whether there is an issue of fact to be tried, and, if there is none, to cause judgment to be rendered accordingly." Porter v. General Boiler Casing Co., 284 Md. 402, 413, 396 A.2d 1090 (1979). Moreover, all duly shown facts which would be admissible in evidence and all reasonable inferences deducible therefrom must be considered most favorably to the party opposing the motion. Washington Homes, Inc. v. Interstate Land Dev. Co., 281 Md. 712, 718, 382 A.2d 555 (1978).
The evidence regarding the insured's death is undisputed. The insured died as a result of an automobile accident when he operated his vehicle while intoxicated and collided with a utility pole. "Where there is no real dispute as to facts which are pertinent to the question of coverage which are shown by evidence properly admissible the construction is for the court." Truck Insurance Exchange v. Marks Rentals, 288 Md. 428, 433, 418 A.2d 1187 (1980). The record in this case presents no real dispute as to the facts which are pertinent to the question of cove
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