Was Your Life Insurance Claim Denied by Minnesota Life/Securian Financial?
The life insurance denial lawyers at Gianelli & Morris are here to help!
Picking life insurance should be like buying a couch: You shop around, find the one you like, buy it and then forget about it. Every so often, a big life event such as a marriage or birth will trigger a need to revisit your policy, but for the most part, as long as you pay your monthly premiums, you shouldn’t have to worry. When you pass away, or when your covered family member passes, it should be as simple as signing on the dotted line. Unfortunately, insurance is rarely that easy.
Large insurance companies like Minnesota Life (now called Securian Financial) will look for any reason they can to deny life insurance payouts. They make their money by selling products, not by paying benefits. They’ll stretch the language of their policy, ignore medical evidence, and commit other bad faith conduct in order to avoid or delay paying out benefits that they rightfully owe to customers. At Gianelli & Morris, it’s our job to make sure that Minnesota Life pays you what they owe. We hold insurance companies to task for wrongful claim denials and other insurance bad faith conduct. If you are entitled to life insurance benefits, we’re here to fight for you.
Who is Minnesota Life?
Minnesota Life Insurance Company is an affiliate of the Securian Financial Group, one of the largest providers of insurance products in the United States. Securian sells a number of insurance products including term, whole life, and universal life insurance, long-term care insurance, health insurance, as well as many financial planning services. Securian generates revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Yet, they have a history of poor customer satisfaction and significant complaints.
Minnesota Life/Securian has been accused of misleading customers and consumers about their products as well as wrongful denial of life insurance benefits, among other things. Whether under the new moniker or the old, Minnesota Life has a history of mistreating its customers and working for its own interests, ignoring the needs and the rights of paying customers. If you’ve been wronged by Minnesota Life or Securian, you are not alone; Gianelli & Morris can help.
Just Because Minnesota Life Denied Your Claim Does Not Mean You Do Not Deserve Coverage
If you have a life insurance policy issued by Minnesota Life or, more recently, Securian, you might find your coverage denied for any number of reasons. It’s important to keep in mind that you do not have to take the insurer’s word on the matter. Just because they claim that you are not entitled to benefits does not make it so. At Gianelli & Morris, we help beneficiaries recover the life insurance benefits they are owed when insurers wrongfully claim all manner of reasons for denying benefits. Some of the reasons for coverage denial we commonly dispute include:
- Policy rescission for application errors. One of the most common reasons for life insurance claim denial is policy rescission due to misstatements in the original application. However, rescission of a policy is only permitted if there are material (important) misstatements in the original application for coverage–such as misstatements about the policyholder’s medical conditions or smoking habits–simply typos or other errors do not qualify. Moreover, rescission is only allowed within the first two years of the policy. If it’s been more than two years, then the policy stays enforceable regardless of the application.
- Policy lapse. Minnesota Life/Securian might try to deny coverage based on policy lapse due to missed premiums. In California, however, insurers have to jump through several hoops before they are allowed to terminate a policy. They have to adhere to strict notice requirements, informing the policyholder and other relevant parties about the missed premiums and potential lapse, giving the parties sufficient time to correct the error. If Minnesota Life failed in its legal duties, then it had no right to terminate the policy, and you are still entitled to benefits.
- Excluded cause of death. Minnesota Life may deny your claim if the cause of death is allegedly excluded, such as death caused by suicide, criminal activity, or a preexisting medical condition. Life insurers, however, will read the medical record in the light most favorable to themselves; we’ve seen insurers claim that a death was actually caused by a pre-existing heart condition, even though the covered party drowned. Just because they say the cause of death was excluded does not make it so. There may be a reasonable dispute about the cause of death, or the cause may not actually be excluded (for example, suicide is typically only excluded for the first two years).
Call the Insurance Denial Attorneys at Gianelli & Morris After a Claim Denial by Minnesota Life Insurance
If someone you love has passed and your life insurance claim has been denied by Minnesota Life, Securian Financial, or another life insurance company, contact the seasoned and savvy Los Angeles insurance denial lawyers Gianelli & Morris for a no-cost evaluation of your claim at 213-489-1600.
