Widow Can't Collect Insurance From Arson

(CN) – A Tennessee widow whose husband burned down the house in an unsuccessful suicide attempt can’t collect insurance, a state appeals court ruled.     George Turturea was suffering from terminal cancer when he tried to kill himself in 2004 through arson. Turturea survived, but the fire wiped out his home and two cars. George died three months later.     George and his wife, Gladys, had lived in separate homes but remained married, and Gladys moved back in with George in 2001 after he got sick.     Gladys sued Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance Co. to collect on her homeowners’ and auto policies, but lost in the trial court.     The Jackson-based Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld the decision on the basis that the fire was not an accident.     “A paramedic stated that Mr. Turturea was alert and oriented when he arrived at the scene,” Judge David Farmer wrote.     “Mr. Turturea told him he was supposed to have started chemotherapy that day, but he decided not to and he wanted to die.”