A terrible thing for someone in Arlington, Grand Prairie, Grapevine, Mansfield, Dallas, Fort Worth, Bedford, Euless, or anywhere else in the metroplex is having a loved one die. Then, when the claim for life insurance benefits is made, the live insurance company denies the claim for benefits.
This happens on a daily basis across the country. The New York Daily News recently published an article about this happening to a Long Island family. The Daily News staff writer is, John Marzulli. The title of the article is, “Lawsuit seeks to prevent Jeffrey Locker’s family from collecting life insurance after bizarre death.”
The article tells us that the family of a Long Island motivational speaker who police say set up his own murder should not collect $4 million in life insurance because he lied about his income. That is the defense in a federal lawsuit filed by the family.
Jeffery Locker, who was married and the father of three children, was stabbed and choked to death this past summer while in his car in East Harlem. The arrested and accused killer told the police that Locker paid him to stage the murder as a robbery so his family could collect the life insurance proceeds.
He had taken out the life insurance policy about a month before his bizarre death.
The lawsuit was filed in Brooklyn Federal Court against the insurance company. The lawsuit papers filed by Locker’s family makes no mention of the strange circumstances of Locker’s death.
However, Principle Life Insurance of Iowa contends that Locker’s tax returns show his earnings were less than the $800,000 he claimed. He also lied about canceling another policy worth $4 million.
Locker was heavily in debt at the time of his killing. He allegedly told ex-con, Claude Minor, to “do a Kevorkian,” referring to the notorious proponent of assisted suicide, Dr. Jack Kevorkian. In the criminal matter, Minor is facing second-degree murder charges.
One thing for readers to keep in mind is that all life insurance policies are written differently. Each state in the United States, has its own rules and regulations governing life insurance policies. The average purchaser of these life insurance policies would never know for sure what the wording in the different policies means without consulting an experienced Insurance Law Attorney.
There are lots of clauses in Insurance policies that are not enforceable. Still other clauses that are not enforceable after a certain amount of time has expired from the date the policy was taken out. Further still, even in policies where there are clearly inaccurate statements made by the person who took out the policy, often times these inaccurate statements are not grounds for refusing to pay on the policy.
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