Betty S. Simpson v. Safeco Life Insurance Company

The shooting occurred in Jacus' home on June 13, 1998. A few
minutes before Jacus shot himself, he walked into a room in which
his uncle, Johnny Lee Turner, was watching television. When Jacus
began removing the bullets from a pistol, Turner told Jacus, "Don't
be playing with any guns," to which Jacus responded, "I'm not, I'm
gonna be safe." J.A. 35 (internal quotation marks omitted). Jacus then
dumped several bullets onto the bed, picked them up, and said to Tur-
ner, "These are little old light bullets." Id. (internal quotation marks
omitted). His uncle responded, "Yea, but they are too powerful, you
shouldn't be using them."

As Jacus was leaving the room, his friend Michael Long entered
the house, and the two met in the kitchen. The two boys were laugh-
ing and joking when Jacus pulled the pistol out from his pants and
pointed it at Long about four or five inches from Long's chest. On a
dare from Long, Jacus pulled the trigger, but the pistol did not fire.
Still laughing and teasing, Jacus then put the pistol to his own head
and, again on Long's dare, pulled the trigger. This time the weapon
discharged, killing Jacus.

At the time of his death, Jacus was employed by Matlab, Inc. and
was a participant in an accidental death and dismemberment benefit
plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act
(ERISA) of 1974 and provided through a Safeco insurance policy (the
Policy). The Policy provided that Safeco would pay $10,000 to the
named beneficiary, Simpson here, if the employee's death "was
directly and solely due to external, violent and accidental means." Id.
at 188. The Policy further provided that it did not cover "any loss
caused wholly or partly, directly or indirectly, by" "suicide or
attempted suicide," "intentionally self-inflicted injury," or "commit-
ting or attempting to commit an assault or felony." Id. at 189. Follow-
ing Jacus' death, Simpson demanded payment from Safeco. Safeco
refused to pay, however, based on its assertions that the shooting was
not accidental and that it occurred during Jacus' commission of a fel-
ony, namely, possession of a pistol by an individual under 21 years
old. See S.C. Code Ann. S 16-23-30(c), (e) (Law. Co-op. 1985).
Simpson subsequently instituted this action, seeking benefits and
attorneys' fees and costs. See 29 U.S.C.A. S 1132(a)(1)(B), (g)(1)
(West 1999).

Following discovery, the district court granted judgment to Simp-
son and awarded attorneys' fees and costs. Regarding whether the
shooting was accidental, the court determined that Jacus reasonably
believed that the pistol was not loaded and that he did not intend to
shoot himself. Concerning the felony exclusion, the court recognized
that possession of a pistol by an individual under 21 is a felony in
South Carolina. Nevertheless, the court found the felony exclusion
inapplicable because "neither the statute [prohibiting possession of a
pistol by a minor] nor the insurance policy contemplates the facts in
this case." J.A. 6.

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Click the case caption above for the full text of the
Court's opinion.

In sum, because the district court erred in ruling that the felony
exclusion does not apply, we vacate the judgment in favor of Simpson
and remand for entry of judgment in favor of Safeco. Reversed and remanded.

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