# Factual: Is this lawsuit rumor true? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [June 14, 2021, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-is-this-lawsuit-rumor-true/944207 "2021-06-14T02:24:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-is-this-lawsuit-rumor-true/944207/21 "2021-06-21T11:42:11Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > What makes me call BS on the scenario in the OP is that it just screams Urban Legend. I think in this case it’s more likely “Grieving and angry family makes vague statements about lawsuits that were never going to happen and those claims get repeated as fact.” which is similar, but I wouldn’t actually call an Urban Legend. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-is-this-lawsuit-rumor-true/944207/22 "2021-06-21T12:14:04Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > “I don’t care. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire”. Not always–sometimes it’s somebody blowing smoke up your ass. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-is-this-lawsuit-rumor-true/944207/23 "2021-06-21T12:47:20Z")
“If I wanted smoke blown up my ass, I’d be at home with a pack of cigarettes and a short length of hose.” ---
**Author:** ![Falchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-is-this-lawsuit-rumor-true/944207/24 "2021-06-21T15:43:45Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > What injuries has his family suffered that they’re suing? I could imagine it mattering for an insurance policy. For example, there are various causes of death that might be excluded from a policy. That said, I think that it would generally be in the interest of the deceased for the death to be counted as COVID. For example, there have been instances of states including some number of suicides or overdoses in the COVID death numbers (I don’t know what’s on the death certificate) – it’s not hard to imagine an insurance policy that would pay for a COVID death, but not a suicide death. The reverse seems less likely - but I could imagine that if you bought an insurance policy during the pandemic, lied about having COVID, and then died in an (unrelated) car accident, you might prefer not to have the death certificate state that you died of COVID. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-is-this-lawsuit-rumor-true/944207/25 "2021-06-21T16:19:58Z")
> [@Falchion](#): > > an insurance policy that would pay for a COVID death, but not a suicide death. Just FYI… This is an urban legend that is only partially true. Most life insurance policies do have a “suicide clause” but it’s usually only in effect for the first two years of the policy. Thereafter, suicide pays in full. Some states have shortened the period and many policies do not have a suicide clause at all. .[Does Life Insurance Cover Suicide?](https://www.investopedia.com/does-life-insurance-cover-suicide-5105027) ---
**Author:** ![Falchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-is-this-lawsuit-rumor-true/944207/26 "2021-06-21T16:36:20Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > Just FYI… > This is an urban legend that is only partially true. > Most life insurance policies do have a “suicide clause” but it’s usually only in effect for the first two years of the policy. Thereafter, suicide pays in full. Some states have shortened the period and many policies do not have a suicide clause at all. Well, I certainly didn’t mean to participate in an urban legend. I wasn’t really thinking of life insurance specifically (although that was probably the natural reading and would be the most common – or at least likely the largest value – so I apologize). I was thinking of insurance contracts more generally – for example, my child’s school offers a “tuition refund” insurance that covers a parent’s (or child’s) death _unless_ the death was caused by suicide, drug overdose, or alcoholism (among other, less likely, things). I was looking at travel insurance policies the other day which have similar exclusions. They also had provisions involving pre-existing conditions (which, I suppose, is where the deceased might be harmed by a COVID finding), but I didn’t really parse them. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-is-this-lawsuit-rumor-true/944207/27 "2021-06-21T16:43:12Z")
> [@Falchion](#): > > . I wasn’t really thinking of life insurance specifically (although that was probably the natural reading and would be the most common – or at least likely the largest value – so I apologize). > > I was thinking of insurance contracts more generally – Well, there you go…and I was doing just the opposite! My apologies to you for jumping to conclusions. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-is-this-lawsuit-rumor-true/944207/28 "2021-06-21T18:02:01Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > But the hospital finds that the deceased was infected with Covid-19 at the time of death, and so lists the cause of death as Covid-19. > > So the other driver (and his insurance company) now use that to rebut the plaintiff’s claim that the other driver caused the death. The plaintiff (the deceased driver’s family) lose the case, or maybe are awarded a much smaller judgement than they expected. The statement by the hospital isn’t binding on a court. The family could challenge that finding by the hospital if the matter goes to court. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-is-this-lawsuit-rumor-true/944207.md?page=1)