Trief & Olk has filed a complaint on behalf of its client against American Income Life Insurance Company (“AIL”) in Essex County, New Jersey, alleging that AIL and its agents misled its customers (the beneficiary of the life insurance policy and her now-deceased husband), persuading them to purchase $5,000 in whole life insurance coverage and $200,000 in term life insurance coverage, but actually issuing a policy with different terms. The policy AIL issued had no term life insurance but did have an accidental death rider for $200,000. Because accidental death coverage only applies in very limited circumstances, such plans are not a substitute for term life insurance, under which the beneficiary is paid whether the insured dies of illness or accidental causes. The family never received a copy of the AIL policy, despite repeated requests, and had no opportunity to confirm that the policy issued was the policy they thought they had purchased.
When the insured passed away in 2018, his wife submitted a claim for the insurance payment she thought AIL owed. Because her husband’s death was not accidental, however, AIL denied the claim. It was only at that point that she learned that hat the policy AIL issued had an accidental death rider rather than the $200,000 in term life insurance she and her husband thought they had purchased. She and her husband had been paying premiums for insurance that ended up being useless, rather than the insurance they thought they had purchased, under which she would have received the $200,000 benefit.
Trief & Olk has found numerous complaints of other AIL customers who claim that they did not receive copies of their policies and were not properly informed of the terms of the policies purchased. The complaint claims that AIL (and its agents) committed fraud and violated the New Jersey Consumer Protection Act, and were negligent in supervising their affiliated agents, who failed to properly explain the terms of the policy to the Ilizarovs.
If you think you have a claim related to the denial of life insurance coverage (against AIL or another life insurance company), the life insurance attorneys at Trief &Olk are available to answer your questions and represent you if life insurance claim has been denied improperly or is disputed by another purported beneficiary.