Stem client McClanahan Myers Espey LLP had their recent case, Havenstrite v. Hartford Life Ins. Co., featured in a lengthy law.com article entitled “‘Secret’ Life Insurance Triggers Suits”. The article details an Oklahoma federal judge’s decision that “employees have legal grounds to sue an insurance company for selling and maintaining secret life insurance policies on their lives.”
McClanahan Myers Espey lawyer Mike Myers says that it’s becoming common for employers to obtain consent for these corporate and bank-owned life insurance (COLI/BOLI) policies, but that he questions whether it’s informed consent, and whether the employees know a crucial fact about the policy: how much it’s worth. Some estimate that the COLI and BOLI policies in the US are worth billions of dollars, but that rank and file employees whose lives are being insured are rarely aware of the policies’ true value.
McClanahan Myers Espey LLP is a Houston-based contingency fee litigation firm. In addition to specializing in corporate-owned life insurance, the firm also practices in class actions, general business and patent litigation. The firm’s blog is Contingency Fee Business Litigation.
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