There was a story in the Charleston Gazette today about an insurance company, AIG, who denied the life insurance claim of an Iraq vet’s family, and in return the family sued. If you didn’t already know that insurance companies are the dregs of corporate society, well now you know. This poor family has lost two sons, both of whom served in Iraq. Life insurance is supposed to be automatic. The vet took out the policy himself, naming his parents as beneficiaries so that they wouldn’t be burdened with expenses like when their other son was killed in Iraq. This hero paid over 14 months worth of premiums, and his claim was denied because they didn’t know about a car accident that happened when he was 16 years old.
“[AIG] said that had they known that Andrew White had a car accident when he was 16 years old, they never would have written the policy to begin with,” said Charleston attorney Jack Tinney, who represents the White family. “That’s ludicrous.
“They have gone back and searched for any reason whatsoever to deny the claim, rather than look for a valid reason,” Tinney said.
Amen – and good luck to this family. I hope they stick it to AIG and make them eat their greedy decision to deny this poor family what they are rightfully owed. There has been a lot of talk about the terrible “business climate” in West Virginia. Most times, this is what “business climate” is. Insurance companies lobbying for a better “climate” in which to plunder the hard-earned savings of West Virginians. How easy do we want to make it for insurance companies to rip off our citizens? Do we really want to make it difficult for folks such as this family to seek civil justice?
– John H. Bryan, West Virginia Attorney.
Well, in most cases it’s almost impossible to predict how an insurance company will act if such a scenario outfolds. My clients always ask me about the fine print, they’re interested in policy details, premiums, medicals – but almost nobody enquires about the payment discipline of the insurance company we choose for them. No wonder: when buying life insurance, none of us wants to think of claims being paid out.
There are a few companies that I do not recommend for certain types of policies, but I would never give an advice not to deal with a company at all just based on a story like the above. What I do recommend everyone is not to deal with captive agents. It’s the independent life insurance brokers who you shoud trust.
Someone’s taken Grisham to heart, but not to head.
This is BS. No one – especially AIG – is going to deny such a claim for such a reason. There’s something rather huge you’re not being told. I predict this story will simply disappear from public view very quickly, mostly because the real story doesn’t serve someone’s agenda. All you readers will simply be left with this impression of the evil insurance company – hopefully, to be triggered if you ever show up for jury duty.
And once again, y’all have been lied to, for fun and profit. Well, I’m guessing it’s mostly the profit part.