Divorce did not automatically revoke insurance benefit 
Published: October 30, 2012
Tags: beneficiary designation, divorce, life insurance, revocation
A life insurance policy taken out during a marriage that named the spouse as beneficiary is not automatically revoked upon the divorce of the parties, the Utah Court of Appeals has ruled.
Husband needn’t cooperate in obtaining life insurance
Published: October 11, 2012
Tags: child support, divorce, life insurance
A husband in a divorce case could not be ordered to cooperate with his wife in obtaining life insurance on his own life in order to secure his child support payments, the Kansas Supreme Court has ruled in reversing judgment.
Benchmarks: Hartford off the hook for drunk man’s fatal tumble
Published: July 23, 2012
Tags: accidental death benefits, intoxication, life insurance
Lawyers typically struggle in vain to get life insurance companies to pay up for a drunk driver’s death. But does an alcohol exclusion apply when a man dies from a simple fall down his own front door steps?
The 5th Circuit just decided that it doesn’t take a criminal act for an insurer to invoke an intoxication exclusion to deny accidental death benefits for an alcohol-related fatality.
ERISA plan must cover motorcyclist’s DUI death
Published: May 29, 2012
Tags: death benefits, ERISA, life insurance
An ERISA plan was required to provide accidental death benefits for an insured who died in a motorcycle crash while under the influence of alcohol, the 8th Circuit has ruled in affirming judgment.
Ex-wife can claim federal employee’s life insurance
Published: March 19, 2012
Tags: divorce, Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Act, life insurance
An ex-wife’s equitable claim to a federal employee’s life insurance benefits is not preempted by federal law, the Indiana Supreme Court has ruled.
Ex-wife can keep federal life insurance benefits
Published: January 23, 2012
Tags: divorce, Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Act, life insurance
Federal law preempts a state law which would preclude a woman from keeping the proceeds of a federal employee life insurance policy as her ex-husband’s named beneficiary, the Virginia Supreme Court has ruled in reversing judgment.
ERISA preempts state law on post-divorce beneficiaries
Published: December 7, 2011
Tags: divorce, ERISA, life insurance
A state probate law that extinguishes the right of a divorced spouse to receive life insurance benefits as a named beneficiary is preempted by ERISA, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled in reversing judgment.
Car buyers needn’t arbitrate life insurance claims
Published: November 21, 2011
Tags: arbitration, class action, consumer protection, Federal Arbitration Act, life insurance, McCarran-Ferguson Act
Car buyers were not required to arbitrate class claims alleging that they incurred unearned charges in connection with their purchase of optional life insurance coverage, the Arkansas Supreme Court has ruled in affirming judgment.
ERISA plan may cover death of intoxicated jet skier
Published: August 29, 2011
Tags: "self-inflicted injury" exclusion, ERISA, life insurance
An ERISA plan improperly applied a “self-inflicted injury” exclusion to deny accidental death benefits for an insured who was under the influence at the time of his fatal jet ski accident, a U.S. District Court in Kentucky has ruled.
Walmart pays $2 million to settle life insurance lawsuit
Published: August 15, 2011
Tags: Florida, life insurance
Walmart has agreed to pay more than $2 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleges the retail giant secretly took out life insurance policies on some of its Florida workers in the 1990s.
