Mauroner v. Massachusetts Indemnity and Life Insurance Company
Court of Appeal of Louisiana for the Fifth Circuit
520 So. 2d 451 (1988)
Susan Mauroner (plaintiff) and her husband bought a life-insurance policy through an agent of Massachusetts Indemnity and Life Insurance Company (MILICO) (defendant). MILICO discovered an error on the application's transmittal form in November 1981 but did not resolve it and issue the policy until February 1982, a 36-day delay beyond MILICO's normal processing time. The policy included a two-year suicide-exclusion clause running from the issue date. Mr. Mauroner committed suicide three weeks before that two-year period would have ended had the policy issued on time. MILICO refused to pay, and Mrs. Mauroner sued MILICO and its agents for negligently delaying the correction.
Whether an insurance agent's delay in correcting an error in an insurance application constitutes negligence when the delay causes the insured to lose coverage under the policy.