Established that life insurer has no duty to investigate a possible death claim until a legal representative is appointed for the beneficiary estate
[ Estate of Grant v. State Farm Life Insurance Co. ] |
Established limits on post-Abatie discovery in ERISA benefits litigation involving a structural conflict of interest
[ Beckstrand v. Electronic Arts Group Long Term Disability Plan ] |
Obtained the Eastern District of California’s first dismissal of representative claims for unfair competition under Prop 64
[ Starr-Gordon v. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. ] |
Established that the “disclosed principal” rule required the dismissal of a policyholder’s claim of agent misconduct in connection with the sale of a life insurance policy
[ Magsayo v. Primerica Life Insurance Co. ] |
Established that California DOI cannot properly be joined to destroy diversity in disability income insurance claims litigation
[ Borsuk v. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. ] |
Successfully prosecuted California’s first-known litigated case involving the rescission of a long term care insurance policy
[ GE Capital Assurance Co. v. Golden ] |
Obtained an order compelling an insurance agent to arbitrate claims of alleged sexual harassment against an insurance broker who did not sign the agent’s arbitration agreement
[ Miranda v. AFLAC ] |
Successfully defended the first-known litigated case in California involving suitability and the sale of long term care insurance
[ Yudnich v. The Harvest Life Insurance Co. ] |
Expanded California’s market for long term care insurance by establishing California DOI’s authority to approve of tax-qualified long term care insurance policies
[ Congress of California Seniors v. Quackenbush ] |
Filed an amicus curiae brief in the California Supreme Court on behalf of a life and health insurance trade association regarding the “imposter defense”
[ AMEX Life Assurance Co. v. Superior Court (Slome Capital) ] |
Established limits on the availability of injunctive relief in actions governed by the Federal Arbitration Act
[ Davenport v. Blue Cross of California ] |
Used the Harris Trust corrective legislation to obtain the nation’s first dismissal of fiduciary and co-fiduciary liability claims against an insurer holding ERISA plan assets in its general account
[ Tool v. National Employee Benefit Services, Inc. ] |
Established that the loss of a health care professional’s license to practice is a legal disability which does not qualify for benefits under a disability income insurance policy
[ Damascus v. Provident Life & Accident Ins. Co. ] |
Established that a life insurance company has a private right of action for “twisting” under California Insurance Code Section 781 against agents who misrepresent facts to induce policy surrenders
[ Kentucky Central Life Insurance Co. v. LeDuc ] |
In a disappearance case involving an accidental death policy, confirmed that the beneficiary bears the burden of proving the insured died as the result of an accident
[ Johnson v. Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance Co. ] |
Established that a change in premium is sufficient proof that a life insurance applicant’s smoking history was material
[ Kentucky Central Life Ins. Co. v. Marin Bay Park Trust ] |
