Singletary v. Prudential Ins. Co.

After Prudential denied coverage of a life insurance policy, plaintiff filed suit claiming that she had no notice of the exclusion for active-duty servicemen and that the exclusion is otherwise unenforceable. The district court granted summary judgment for Prudential and UPS. Plaintiff worked for UPS and participated in a plan which provides group insurance coverage to UPS employees. Plaintiff sought coverage after plaintiff's husband was killed in a weekend motorcycle accident while off base and not on duty. The court concluded that Prudential correctly interpreted the exclusion as barring the claim where the plan indicates that a spouse is not a qualified dependent when the spouse is on active-duty in the armed forces of any country. Moreover, it was not an abuse of discretion for Prudential to interpret the exclusion to apply regardless of whether a spouse was on military duty at the time of an occurrence. The court rejected plaintiff's claim that she was not on notice of the exclusion, concluding that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq., only requires the court to simply interpret the plan. The court rejected plaintiff's claims and affirmed the judgment. View "Singletary v. Prudential Ins. Co." on Justia Law