- Amount
- $307,000 (court-ordered payment to our client)
- Counsel
- Interpleader Law
- Result for
- The insured's surviving spouse, our client
- Case
- Prudential Insurance Co. of America v. West
- Court
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio
- Docket
- No. 5:20-cv-00029
- Decided
- February 26, 2021
- Issue
- Competing claims to Veterans' Group Life Insurance benefits, resolved by agreement
The insured had Veterans’ Group Life Insurance. In its interpleader, the insurer raised in general terms whether the federal regulation barring a beneficiary who intentionally and wrongfully causes the insured’s death might affect the surviving spouse, and it named her and the insured’s children. Once the benefit was deposited, the court discharged the insurer.
We represented the surviving spouse. The claimants resolved the dispute by agreement, and on their joint motion the court entered a final judgment ordering most of the benefits paid to our client. No court decided whether the regulation applied, and no court made any finding about the death.
What it shows. An insurer’s cautious pleading is not evidence. A beneficiary named in an interpleader can still recover through a court-ordered resolution.
Read the court's order
For a detailed legal summary of this decision, see interpleader.com's decisions library.
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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