NRA Refuses to Pay Death Benefit to Minnesota Widow

A Minnesota widow is taking the National Rifle Association to court over its denial of her husband’s death benefit.

John Balk bought a life insurance policy from the NRA 10 months before he died in a tractor rollover accident on his Scott County farm in 2010.

The NRA refused to pay the $150,000 death benefit to his widow, Annalee Balk. It said the policy excluded benefits for a death that resulted from operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Annalee Balk argues her late husband’s John Deere tractor doesn’t fall with the state’s definition of a motor vehicle.

A medical examiner’s report says “acute ethanol intoxication” contributed to John Balk’s death at his farm east of Belle Plaine.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press says the case has been transferred from Scott County to federal court.