Insurer can't rescind $10M policy on lawyer who died of brain cancer, judge rules
A federal judge in Connecticut has ruled the Principal National Life Insurance Co. is not entitled to rescind a $10 million life insurance policy issued to a lawyer who died 15 months later.
U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton ruled (PDF) on Monday that the insurer had to pay $10 million to the irrevocable trust of the Hartford lawyer, Larry Coassin, Law.com (sub. req.) reports.
The insurer had argued Coassin failed to disclose a visit to an ear, nose and throat specialist for dizziness nine days before the policy was issued. Coassin visited the doctor in April 2012 after he applied for the insurance, but before he wrote in a supplemental questionnaire that he had not since seen a medical professional. He did disclose a prior doctor visit for dizziness in December 2011, but said the issue was “resolved completely without recurrence.”
Coassin wasn’t diagnosed with a brain tumor until November 2012. He died in July 2013.
Arterton ruled that Coassin did not make material misrepresentations in his insurance application, and Principal wrongfully denied the claim and rescinded the policy.
Even if Principal Life Insurance had known of the April 2012 doctor visit, it would have issued the policy under reinsurance guidelines after Coassin’s follow-up neurology consultation found no cause for concern, the judge said.
