WHEN IS AN ACCIDENT NOT AN ACCIDENT.

The answer is that if you have many types of health insurance which only pay if you are "accidentally" injured you will not get the benefit of that policy if you are a drunk driver. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has recently reaffirmed longstanding law that an insurance policy may properly deny coverage for your medical bills if you were drunk and driving when the accident occurred. The case involved an accident in Parkersburg, West Virginia and the drunk driver had a blood alcohol level of 0.15 percent. This was 50 percent higher than the legal limit in West Virginia. The court held that it was reasonably foreseeable and thus not an accident that a drunk driver would hurt himself. This follows a national trend in which almost 100 percent of the courts who have ruled on the issue have held that the denial is proper. The case is Eckelberry v. ReliaStar Life Insurance Company. If you have been injured in an accident then you should read The Five Deadly Sins That Can Wreck Your Virginia Car Accident Case, (free to Virginia residents.)