Appellate Court Affirms Judgment on Behalf of Firm Client in Insurance Case

2/20/2008
Tina Fowler (Springfield - Labor & Employment) served as legal counsel for St. John's Regional Health Center in an appellate matter that recently concluded for the firm's client, when the Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court's judgment finding that St. John's acted appropriately in a change of life insurance policies that affected employees. Elliott v. St. John's Reg'l Health Ctr., No. 28424 (Mo. Ct. App. Jan. 15, 2008).

The successful argument before the appellate court maintained that because the beneficiary form that had been filed by the plaintiff's deceased husband (a former St. John's employee) benefited the decedent's former wife, the plaintiffs could not show injury. During his employment, St. John's provided him with life insurance under a group life insurance policy. The deceased named his wife as beneficiary, but then he divorced and then remarried. He notified St. John's human resources department of the remarriage and adjusted his health insurance accordingly, but did not change the designation of his life insurance beneficiary.

The trial court's decision that granted St. John's motion for summary judgment was appealed, but the appeals court affirmed the trial court's judgment. First, the appeals court held that the designation of benefits was valid at the time of death. Therefore, the plaintiffs could not show that St. John's injured them by failing to issue a new beneficiary form to employees after contracting with an insurer for a group life insurance policy. Ms. Fowler argued that even if St. John's had issued such forms, and, assuming that a change in beneficiary had been made, no actual change would have occurred.
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