- Amount
- $105,000 (paid to our client, individually and for the estate she represented, with interest)
- Counsel
- Interpleader Law
- Result for
- The named beneficiary, individually and as personal representative of the insured's estate, our client
- Case
- Combined Insurance Co. of America v. Skipper
- Court
- U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida
- Docket
- No. 3:17-cv-00749-BJD-JRK
- Decided
- July 30, 2018
- Issue
- Competing claims by two fiancées to accidental death and life benefits, resolved by a court-ordered settlement
The insured held two policies with Combined Insurance. An accident-only policy paid $50,000, and its application named our client, then his fiancée, as the sole beneficiary. A second policy carried $50,000 of life coverage and $50,000 of accidental death coverage, but its beneficiary line read only “Casey Lewis, Fiance,” which left unclear who was meant. He died in a car crash in April 2017. By then he was engaged to someone else, and she claimed both policies.
Combined filed an interpleader in federal court in Jacksonville and deposited about $156,000. We represented our client individually and as personal representative of the insured’s estate. The claimants settled at mediation in July 2018. The court’s consent judgment awarded our client the entire accident-only benefit with interest and split the second policy’s proceeds equally between the estate and the other claimant. With interest, the court registry paid our client $105,514.
What it shows. A clear designation on one policy can anchor a settlement on another policy whose designation is unclear.
Read the court's order
Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. This summary describes the court's ruling; it is not legal advice about any other case.
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