221093P.pdf   02/23/2023  Terri Yates  v.  Symetra Life Insurance Company
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  22-1093
                          and No:  22-2257
   U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - St. Louis   
   [PUBLISHED] [Kelly, Author, with Shepherd and Grasz, Circuit Judges] 
   Civil case - ERISA. Plaintiff's decedent died of a heroin overdose, and 
   defendant. the plan administrator for the decedent's employer, refused to 
   pay accidental death benefits, claiming the loss was caused by an 
   intentionally self-inflicted injury and that such losses were excluded 
   from coverage. The district court did not err in determining that the 
   written Plan documents did not describe any appeal or review procedures 
   plaintiff had to exhaust before brining suit; using heroin is not an 
   intentionally self-inflicted injury and the overdose death was not an 
   intended result of ingestion of the drug; the district court did not err 
   in determining that the intentionally self-inflicted injury exclusion did 
   not apply to unintended injuries, such as death by overdose.