- Amount
- $361,000 (court-ordered payment to our client)
- Counsel
- Interpleader Law
- Result for
- The insured's named beneficiary, our client
- Case
- Prudential Insurance Co. of America v. Dukarm
- Court
- U.S. District Court, Western District of New York
- Docket
- No. 1:20-cv-00061
- Decided
- February 5, 2021
- Issue
- Competing claims to SGLI benefits after the named beneficiary pleaded guilty to negligent homicide, resolved by agreement
The insured, a member of the Air Force Reserve with Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance, had named our client as his sole primary beneficiary. He died of a gunshot wound, and she later pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in connection with his death. The insurer filed an interpleader, pointing to the federal regulation that bars a beneficiary who intentionally and wrongfully kills the insured, and named our client and the insured’s child, the next in line if she were barred.
We represented the named beneficiary. Her plea was to negligent homicide, not to an intentional killing. The claimants resolved the dispute by agreement, the court approved the settlement on the child’s behalf, and it entered a final judgment ordering the amount shown paid to our client. No court decided whether the regulation applied.
What it shows. The SGLI slayer regulation is written for intentional and wrongful killings, so a negligent homicide plea does not automatically end a beneficiary’s claim.
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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