Joseph Belth, Ph.D., the founder and former editor of The Insurance Forum, provided his analysis and insight on Bezich v. The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, which culminated in a significant settlement. Writing for his personal blog, Dr. Belth discussed each portion of the case, from initial lawsuit to appeal to settlement.
He referenced one colorful statement from the appellate court:
“Finally, we cannot help but comment upon the absurdity of Lincoln’s own interpretation of the [cost of insurance] rate provision, which is that the Ensemble II allows Lincoln to unilaterally increase rates on customers to reflect a change in mortality factors but offers no parallel commitment to decrease rates despite an overwhelming improvement in mortality. We have grave doubts that any policyholder of average intelligence would read the COI rate provision to confer on Lincoln that sort of “heads we win, tails you lose” power.”
The full post is available here.