Also known as: life insurances · life assurance
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A contract between an insurance company and the policyholder under which the insurer agrees to pay a specified sum to a designated beneficiary upon the death of the insured.
Lola Langley executed a will that devised the proceeds of her life insurance policy to the trustee of a revocable trust she had created during her lifetime. After her death the trustee collected the policy benefits and administered them under the trust terms. The devise remained valid even though Langley had retained ownership rights in the policy.
Latoya Lane sued her insurer after it denied her late husband's life insurance claim. Her complaint alleged the policy was in force and the death was covered but contained only conclusory assertions without supporting facts. The court dismissed the action because the allegations failed to state a plausible claim under the applicable pleading standard.
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Lamar Lewis purchased a life insurance policy from an out-of-state company that had mailed a customized offer to him in his home state. After the insurer denied his claim Lewis sued in state court. The court exercised personal jurisdiction because the single policy sold to a resident created sufficient minimum contacts.
Luis Lopez as executor challenged the validity of a life insurance policy that named a third party as beneficiary. He asserted taxpayer standing to contest the insurer's payment. The court denied standing because Lopez lacked a direct personal stake in the outcome of the dispute.
Lucy Liu purchased a life insurance policy while domiciled in State A. After her death her estate and the insurer disputed which state's law governed the beneficiary designation. The court applied State A law because that was the insured's domicile when the policy was issued.
Layla Lane owned a life insurance company that held policies on coal miners. A new state regulation required the company to maintain higher reserves. The company claimed the rule effected a taking of its property. The court upheld the regulation because it advanced a legitimate public purpose without denying all economic use of the assets.
A person named in the policy to receive proceeds upon the insured's death is an intended beneficiary when the promise is designed to benefit that person directly. Recognition of the beneficiary's right effectuates the parties' intention under the contract. The beneficiary may enforce the promise against the insurer even without direct communication with the company.
Supporting sources
A will may devise property including life insurance proceeds to the trustee of a trust identified in the will. The trust may be one established during the testator's life or at death. The devise remains valid even if the trust is revocable or later amended.
Supporting sources
A state may exercise jurisdiction when the insurer has purposefully directed a policy solicitation to a resident and the claim arises from that contact. Even a single policy sold to a forum resident can support jurisdiction. The forum state has a strong interest in providing redress for its residents.
…courts must follow conflict of laws rules prevailing in the states in which they sit. We left this open in Ruhlin v. New York Life Insurance Co. , 304 U. S. 202, 208, n. 2. The frequent recurrence of the problem, as well as the conflict of approach to the problem between the Third Circuit’s opinion here and that of the First…