Failure to Sign and Accept the Terms of a Life Insurance Policy Rendered Coverage Void

Roi Thi Do & Chau Thai Ha v. Lincoln Benefit Life Co. (Fla. 2d DCA 2013)

In this case, a woman and her boyfriend filed suit against an insurance company, alleging that the company wrongfully withheld their survivor benefits pursuant to a life insurance policy that was issued to the woman’s father.

At trial, the insurance company successfully moved for summary judgment by arguing that recovery was barred since the insured had never signed the policy documents nor provided any other form of written consent to the policy and its terms prior to its issuance. The undisputed underlying facts were that the only document actually linking the insurance application to the father was a paramedical exam and consent form. All other documentation had actually been signed by the daughter’s boyfriend, who had even posed as the insured during a telephonic interview with the insurance company.

On appeal, the daughter and her boyfriend argued that the court erred in finding that the insured had not consented in writing to the insurance policy. Their argument was that the paramedical exam consent form satisfied the requirement for “written consent,” as required by statute 627.404(5). The second district rejected the argument and affirmed, concluding that the father’s written consent to the paramedical exam provided by a third party was not “consent in writing” to the life insurance contract and its terms because the form lacked critical information such as the name of the beneficiaries, the terms of the insurance contract, pricing, or any other substantive terms of the insurance contract.

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