Horton v. The Travelers Ins. Co

In Horton v. The Travelers Ins. Co. (1920) 45 Cal.App. 462, the insured, a dental patient, met his death by "accidental means" because it was unexpected and unforeseen that the dentist's presumably sterile instruments were actually laden with disease-producing germs which caused death by blood poisoning. Counsel for appellant concludes that "if Horton died by accidental means, Hargreaves did as well." Appellant's argument is that in each instance the insured decedent intended that a foreign body (medical instruments) or substance (heroin) be injected into his body and in each instance the "instrumentality" of the insertion or injection contained something of an "unforeseen or unexpected character," i.e., "virulent germs" and lethal dosage of heroin. Horton, supra, is one of an exhaustive list of cases, while understandably not involving identical facts, that are said to be within the principle that "if one drinks from a glass containing poison under the supposition that it is a glass of pure water, and death ensues, the death is caused by 'external, violent and accidental means.'" ( Horton v. Travelers Ins. Co., supra, 45 Cal.App. 462, 467.)