Articles Posted in Life Insurance

People living in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Mansfield, Fort Worth, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, and other places in Texas who are named beneficiaries under a life insurance policy might find this next case unusual. Here is some background.

This is a United States Northern District case decided in 1999. The style of the case is Benbow v. All American Life Insurance Company.

All American Life Insurance Company and General American Life Insurance Company each insured Daniel Benbow under whole life insurance policies that provided coverage of $100,000. Approximately seven months before Daniel’s death, letters were sent to both carriers requesting cancellation of the policies and further requesting that the carriers remit any accumulated cash value of the policies. Both carriers honored the request and issued checks to Daniel for the current value of the policies. After Daniel’s death, Diana Benbow contacted the carriers and notified them that Daniel suffered from a bipolar disorder, and she requested that the carriers deem the cancellation of the policies to be invalid. The carriers contended that the policies had been surrendered, and refused to pay the claim for benefits. Diana then sued both carriers in state court alleging breach of contract, violations of the Texas Insurance Code and violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA). The carriers removed the case to federal district court. Thereafter, the carriers moved for summary judgment on all causes of action.

Fort Worth residents and insureds in Grand Prairie, Weatherford, Arlington, Dallas, Saginaw, Grapevine, Aledo, and other places in Texas would want to have some knowledge about what constitutes a “lapse” in their life insurance policy. Here is a case that gives some insight.

This is a 2000, case decided by the San Antonio Court of Appeals. The style of the case is MacIntire v. Armed Forces Benefits Association. Here are some facts.

Linda and Scott MacIntire submitted a joint application for term life insurance to the Armed Forces Benefit Association (AFBA) in April 1996. The payments were to be made automatically via a computerized bank deposit scheme, but for unknown reasons, the payments were never made. The few payments that the MacIntires did make were not enough to keep the policy in force and it lapsed on March 31, 1998 according to AFBA. Scott MacIntire died from a terminal illness in August of 1998 and Linda inquired regarding the policy in September of that year. Upon discovery of the failed automatic deposit setup, Linda tried to pay delinquent payments directly to AFBA, but AFBA denied the payments and coverage, stating that Scott’s policy had already been canceled. Linda sued AFBA, alleging violation of the Texas Insurance Code, violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA), breach of contract, negligence, breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing, breach of implied warranty, and ambiguity of contract, seeking to recover the death benefits and additional damages. The trial court granted AFBA’s motion for summary judgment on the basis that no genuine issue of material fact existed. Linda appealed, claiming that genuine issue of material fact existed in her claims for breach of contract, breach of implied warrant and ambiguity of contract, DTPA violations, Texas Insurance Code, Section 541.060, breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing, and negligence.

A natural question for someone in Grand Prairie, Fort Worth, Dallas, Arlington, or anywhere else in Texas to wonder about. Can the policyholder sue? Can the beneficiary sue? Can an estate administrator sue? The answer is one of those that depends on the facts and circumstances. Here is a case that gives some guidance.

The case is out of the San Antonio Court of Appeals and the opinion was issued in 1996. The style of the case is Mendoza v. American National Life Insurance Company. Here are the facts:

Jerry Mendoza purchased a $25,000 life insurance policy from American National on August 1, 1991. Carrion was a named beneficiary of the policy. The October premium was not paid. The policy provided for a 31 day grace period. On November 1, 1991, the last day of the grace period, American National’s district manager, Sitka, verbally agreed to extend the grace period until November 4, 1991. The policy, however, specifically provided that only American National’s president, vice-president or secretary had the authority to extend this time period. Jerry Mendoza died in an automobile accident on November 3, 1991. The premium was never paid. In a prior appeal, this court affirmed a summary judgment in favor of American National on Mendoza’s breach of contract, negligence and bad faith claims. This appeal concerns the trial court’s granting of summary judgment on Mendoza’s claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress, Insurance Code and DTPA violations.

People in Weatherford, Mineral Wells, Aledo, Hudson Oaks, Willow Park, Brock, Millsap, Springtown, Cool, Peaster, and other places in Parker County might be interested in this life insurance case.

The case is a 1996, opinion issued by the Southern District of Texas. The style of the case is Bates v. Jackson National Life Insurance Company. Here are some facts.

Bates’ children sued Jackson National for proceeds of a life insurance policy issued to Bates. The children asserted causes of action for breach of contract, bad faith, Insurance Code violations and DTPA violations.

If you live in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Fort Worth, Saginaw, Haslet, Newark, Rhome, Benbrook, Lake Worth, Crowley, Mansfield, or anywhere else in North Texas, there is a chance you have a life insurance policy. Naturally you would expect that the policy would pay the intended beneficary. Well, that is not always the case, particularly if the insurance company can show misrepresentations in the policy application. Whenever they try to do this, it is vital that an experienced Insurance Law Attorney be contacted.

The Texas Supreme Court took on this issue in a case decided in 1980, styled, Mattie Emmaline Mayes v. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. Here are some of the facts in the case.

On May 6, 1976, Albert Mayes signed and delivered to an agent, Part 1 of two applications for life insurance. Mays had not disclosed to Mutual Life that certain answers in his application which were correct when made had become false by the time the policies were delivered. The two policies were identical except for the amount of coverage.

Life insurance policy holders in Weatherford, Mineral Wells, Aledo, Azle, Peaster, Brock, Millsap, Hudson Oaks, Willow Park, Springtown, and other places in Parker County would be interested in this case.

The case was decided by the Texas Supreme Court in 1978. The case is styled, James D. Robinson v. The Reliable Life Insurance Company. The insured beneficiary in this case lost at the trial court level and the first appeals court level and in the Supreme Court.

The question on appeal was whether an insurance company, in order to avoid liability of a policy of life insurance for the reason of false representations in the insurance application, must establish both that (1) the misrepresentation was material to the risk and that (2) the condition about which the misrepresentation was made contributed to the death of the insured.

Accidental deaths would be common in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Fort Worth, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, Keller, Saginaw, Grapevine, and any other place in Texas. It is simply one of those things that is going to happen.

A lot of people have insurance policy’s that provide coverage in the event of an accidental death. These policies are known as “accidental death” policies. The United States District Court, Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, issued an opinion on June 29, 2011, in the case styled, Cheryl Likens v. Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company. This case made a summary judgment ruling regarding an accidental death policy that people who have these types of policies should understand. Here is some background.

Wesley Vincent fell at his home in February 2008, and suffered injuries to his cervical spine. He died as a result of that injury four days later. The discharge summary from the hospital listed his cause of death as “anoxic brain injury secondary to cardiopulmonary arrest.”