There are a few statutes in the Texas Insurance Code that are specific to life insurance policies. These statutes are found in Sections 705.001 through 705.105. For an insurance company to deny coverage on a life insurance policy based on a misrepresentation in an application, the insurance company has traditionally…
Life Insurance claims attorneys need to understand the important distinction between statements by the insured that are considered to be representations and those considered to be conditions precedent. If the insured’s statement is considered a representation, a false statement alone will not let the insurer avoid coverage. Each of the…
Life insurance lawyers deal with many situations and reasons that life insurance companies use for denying a claim for benefits. A twist to not paying is where the insurance company does not technically deny the claim, rather the company rescinds the policy. As a general legal principle, prior to a…
Life insurance lawyers will have situations where a person has died and the issue is whether or not the death was an “accidental death” and did any exclusion apply to the accidental death. Here is a 2021, opinion that deals with an accidental death policy with an exclusion and on…
Life insurance claims attorneys will eventually have a case where the life insurance company knows they owe the life insurance benefits on a policy but are unsure about who to pay. When this situation arises the Texas Insurance Code, Section 542.058(c), has specific provisions for how the situation should be…
Often times when a claim for benefits is denied, the reason for the denial is that the policy has been cancelled. “Cancellation” refers to the insurer’s termination of coverage before the end of the policy period. A cancellation is in contrast to a non-renewal, which involves an insurer’s unwillingness to…
What is FEGLI? FEGLI stands for Federal Employee’s Group Life Insurance and is a life insurance program for Federal and Postal employees and annuitants. The law related to FEGLI is authorized by law and can be found in Chapter 87 of Title 5, United States Code. The Office of Personnel…
Repeating what was stated in the post immediate to this one, “It is important to understand how difficult claims that are governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) can be. The law in this area of law is very tough for claimants.” This is illustrated again in a…
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) is a confusing area of law for most people who have those type of policies and it is also confusing for attorneys. An opinion dealing with the time periods for filing a life insurance claim are discussed at length in a 2021 opinion…
This post is a continuation of Parts 1, 2, and 3, posted earlier. This case involves a life insurance policy claim denial that is governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The opinion is from the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, and is styled, Erica Talasek v.…