CASE: Straede v Eastwood [2003] NSWSC 280

In August 2000, John Straede was driving his wife Cheryl to work. He overtook the car in front of him on a hill and collided with an oncoming vehicle. Cheryl was killed in the accident.

John pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death.

The question in this case was not whether John was guilty of causing Cheryl's death, it was whether he was still entitled to inherit from her estate.

John applied for relief from the forfeiture rule, the rule that states that a person shall not benefit from the death they have caused.

However, the case focused little on the car accident itself and more on the ménage à trois with another woman.