Life insurance lawyers in Dallas already know what was published in the Washington Post. It is an article about the death of a loved one being the beginning of a hard fight with the life insurance company.
The article tells us of an experience by a Jane Pierce. Jane spent nine years struggling beside her husband, Todd, as he fought cancer in his sinus cavity. The treatments were working. Then in July 2009, Todd died in a fiery car crash at the age of 46. Todd’s death ended a fight with cancer but began a long fight with Todd’s insurance company, MetLife, for life insurance benefits.
A state medical examiner and a sheriff investigating the case concluded that Todd’s death was an accident. The accident was caused when Todd lost control of his silver GMC pickup after passing a car on a two-lane road. Sounds simple enough, right!?
The finding by the medical examiner and sheriff meant Jane was eligible to collect $224,000 on the accidental death insurance policy that Todd had through his employer. MetLife, however, refused to pay. The nation’s largest life insurer told Jane that her husband had killed himself. The reason they told her this was it allowed them to deny her policy benefits due to the wreck being a suicide rather than an accident because the policy does not cover suicide, only accidents.
Jane was beside herself with the idea that MetLife would suggest such a thing. Jane is a physician assistant.
She said she is insulted that the man who courageously battled his disease for a decade was accused of abandoning his wife and two sons. One of those sons is a Marine and the other a National Guardsman. It is unimaginable to her that that Todd would give up his fight to live.
Jane argued with MetLife for months. She provided MetLife with the autopsy report, medical records, and a letter from the medical examiner saying the death was accidental. MetLife still said no. Finally, after ten months of fighting with MetLife, she hired an attorney and sued.
A few months after filing the lawsuit, MetLife settled and paid Pierce the full $224,000 due on the policy. As part of the settlement, MetLife denied any wrongdoing. Jane did not receive any interest or penalties for the year during which MetLife withheld payment.
It does not take handling too many life insurance claims for a life insurance lawyer to learn this is an all too familiar situation.
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