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Life Insurance Appeals

Carlton Fields

Eleventh Circuit Vacates Jury Award in Favor of Insurer Where Unjust Enrichment Claim Is Subject of Express Insurance Contract

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In MONY Life Insurance Co. v. Perez, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals set aside a jury verdict in favor of MONY Life Insurance Co. on its unjust enrichment claim against policyholder Bernard Perez, holding that an...more

Dickinson Wright

The Hazards of Not Changing Beneficiaries Post-Divorce

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A recent case by the Tennessee Court of Appeals highlights the importance of changing one’s insurance and retirement policy beneficiaries after divorce. This is true no matter what the divorce documents say and no matter what...more

Carlton Fields

Litigation Under Construction: Recent Life Insurance and Long-Term Care Developments

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In Potovsky v. Lincoln Benefit Life Co., the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of the insureds’ complaint for failure to sufficiently allege damages regarding the denial of a long-term care claim....more

Bennett Jones LLP

Ontario Court of Appeal Holds That a Claim is Limitations-Barred for an Entire Class

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In Fehr v Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, 2024 ONCA 847 (Fehr), the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed the representative plaintiffs’ appeal seeking post-certification leave to amend their statement of claim and to...more

Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC

What Connelly v. United States Means for Closely-Held Businesses

The US Supreme Court recently issued a significant decision, impacting many closely-held businesses with buy-sell agreements funded by life insurance policies, Connelly v. United States, 144 S. Ct. 1406 (2024). In a 9-0...more

Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard,...

Value of Stock Included Life Insurance Proceeds Intended for Redemption of Stock

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed the decision in Connelly vs. United States, holding that the fair market value of stock in a closely-held corporation, for purposes of valuing that stock held by a...more

ArentFox Schiff

Georgia Supreme Court Holds Life Insurance Policies Taken Out With Intent to Sell are Lawful

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On October 25, 2022, the Supreme Court of Georgia answered a certified question from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals concerning Georgia’s insurable interest statute, OCGA § 33-24-3 (1995)....more

Rumberger | Kirk

McHugh, Thomas, and the Long-Term Risk of California Insurance Code Sections 10113.71 and 10113.72

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In 2012, the California Legisla­ture enacted changes to the California Insurance Code that provide protections intended to shield consumers from los­ing life insurance coverage due to late or missed insurance premium...more

Carlton Fields

Universal Life Policyowner Not Entitled to Pro Rata Premium Refund Following Insured’s Death

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Insured’s annual planned premium did not implicate New York statute requiring refund of premium “actually paid for any period” beyond an insured’s death....more

Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard,...

2021 Arkansas Insurance Legislation Summary: Act 925 Prohibits Life Insurance/Annuity Beneficiary Change through Will

In a surprising move, the Arkansas General Assembly overrode long-standing Arkansas common law that permits an insured to change a beneficiary of an insurance policy via will. On April 26, 2021, Governor Asa Hutchison signed...more

Carlton Fields

Life Insurer Has No Duty to Investigate Forged Policy Change Form

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The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for the insurer where it paid a death benefit to the person whose name appeared on a change form, notwithstanding suggestions of fraud....more

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

The LHD/ERISA Advisor - October 2020

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As we enter the final months of 2020, this is a time to reflect on a year of unprecedented challenges. Although Covid-19 changed our lives in many ways, it did not halt new legal developments in the life, health and...more

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

The LHD/ERISA Advisor - October 2020: Second Circuit Allows Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claim to Proceed Based on Misrepresentation...

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP on

In Sullivan-Mestecky v. Verizon Communs. Inc., 961 F.3d 91 (2d Cir. 2020), the Second Circuit held that a claim under Section 502(a)(3) of ERISA could proceed, where the beneficiary pled that the plan and its agents...more

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

The LHD/ERISA Advisor: Ninth Circuit Rules Coverage under ERISA Disability Plan Excluded Due to Underlying Medical Condition

In Estate of Maurice v. Life Ins. Co. of N. Am., 792 Fed. Appx. 499 (9th Cir. Cal. Feb. 5, 2020), the Ninth Circuit held that coverage was excluded under an ERISA-governed disability plan ("Plan"), because the evidence in the...more

Carlton Fields

No Saving Grace for Policyholders

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In McHugh v. Protective Life Insurance, the California Court of Appeal held that a statute requiring 60-day grace periods for term life insurance policies did not apply retroactively. ...more

Carlton Fields

Defendants Fend Off Challenge to FIA’s Proprietary Index

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The End or the Beginning for Suits Over Disappointed Index Interest Expectations? Security Benefit Life Insurance Co. and Guggenheim Partners recently secured an important victory in a class action challenging a fixed...more

Carlton Fields

Supreme Court Casts a Wide Net with Rule 10b-5

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The U.S. Supreme Court recently held that someone doesn’t need to have “made” a false or misleading statement to have primary liability under the securities fraud rules. ...more

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

New Jersey Supreme Court Rules on Insurable Interest and Return of Premiums

On June 4, 2019, in a case captioned Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., the Supreme Court of New Jersey answered two questions certified to it by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third...more

Carlton Fields

Life Insurer Permitted to Adjust Policy Proceeds Pursuant to Misstatement-of-Age Provision

Carlton Fields on

In Jackson National Life Insurance Co. v. Dobbins, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment for an insurer in an interpleader action, which resolved, among other things,...more

Mayer Brown

Sixth Circuit Invalidates Tennessee’s Punitive-Damages Cap and Holds That Punitive Damages Are Available Under Tennessee Law For...

Mayer Brown on

Should divided panels of federal appellate courts really be deciding state-law issues of first impression? That’s what happened last month in Lindenberg v. Jackson National Life Insurance Co. In Lindenberg, two Sixth Circuit...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Sixth Circuit Rules That Tennessee Cap on Punitive Damages Is Unconstitutional

In 2011, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam signed the Tennessee Civil Justice Act, a tort reform measure limiting monetary damages. Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-39-104. This law places a cap on punitive damages of two times the...more

Baker Donelson

U.S. Court of Appeals Declares Tennessee Punitive Damages Cap Unconstitutional | Part 1: The Lindenberg Decision

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In mid-December 2018, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that Tennessee's statutory cap on punitive damages violates the right to trial by jury under the Tennessee Constitution. The case...more

Robinson+Cole ERISA Claim Defense Blog

Sixth Circuit Finds No Fiduciary Duty To Give Notice Of Conversion/Portability Rights On Termination Of Employment

In Vest v. Resolute FP US, Inc., 905 F.3d 985 (6th Cir. 2018), the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld dismissal of a claim by the beneficiary of a deceased employee that the employer breached its fiduciary duty under ERISA...more

Cozen O'Connor

Fort Worth Court of Appeal Reverses Judgment Awarding Bad Faith Damages Against Insurer

Cozen O'Connor on

While the November 8, 2018 Court of Appeal of Texas, Fort Worth Division opinion reverses a trial court’s judgment on grounds of legal insufficiency and standing, the court’s analysis and application of current Texas bad...more

Carlton Fields

Louisiana Appeals Court Affirms Class Certification in Lingering Litigation Against Department of Insurance

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A Louisiana appeals court recently affirmed class certification in consolidated lawsuits, pending since 1991, against Louisiana’s Department of Insurance, other related state entities, and the state’s excess insurance...more

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