Insurance companies did not fare well in three recent Florida Supreme Court decisions. Two cases sprang from policyholder complaints, while the third involved a medical provider. If policyholders — be they individuals or businesses — take one thing away from these decisions, it should be to read every policy carefully.
We are discussing a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding the proceeds from a life insurance policy. The insured was covered under the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance plan, and when he passed away in 2008 his widow discovered that the named beneficiary on the policy was his ex-wife. The insurer distributed the proceeds to the ex-wife, and the widow sued.
This is not a typical insurance claim story. The insurance company, in fact, barely makes an appearance. Nor is it a story about Florida. What it is is a story about the power of the insurance contract.
We all know that the insurance industry is highly regulated. States exercise a good deal of control over what insurance companies charge (rates and premiums) and how they manage their finances to make sure they have enough money set aside (reserved) to pay the claims they are obligated to pay their policyholders.
A little more than a year ago, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation issued an order allowing commercial property insurance companies to use new forms without first obtaining the OIR’s approval. The “fast-track” process will become state law on July 1.
We are wrapping up our discussion of a number of lawsuits, one filed here in Florida, against life insurance companies. The plaintiffs accuse the insurers of holding on to death benefits when the companies know or should know that the insured has passed away.
We have been talking about a lawsuit filed by an asset recovery company against several life insurance companies. At issue is how the companies track insureds and locate beneficiaries once an insured has passed away. Florida has been at the forefront of putting pressure on life insurers to implement more efficient and effective internal procedures.
What happens to life insurance proceeds if the beneficiary has no idea he is on the policy? This is not a philosophical question or open to an “if a tree falls in the forest” debate. The law anticipates that this will happen, and state agencies like the Florida Department of Financial Services and the Office of Insurance Regulation do what they can to enforce the laws.
We have talked about the problem of unclaimed life insurance benefits before. In October 2012, for example, we posted about the state of Florida’s settlement with Nationwide Financial Services Inc. regarding its process for identifying insureds and notifying beneficiaries. Nationwide was the fourth life insurer to settle with the state, and consumer advocates and other states’ regulators praised Florida’s enforcement efforts.
Every year, generally around tax time, people go through their paper files to clean out the old stuff and put in the new. Out goes the investment account summary from 2004 — the rule is seven years, right? Keep important papers and tax records for seven years, then shred them?
