{"id":270246,"date":"2025-06-03T09:38:38","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T09:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/insurance\/life-insurance-justified-delay-in-determining-claim-dallas-fort-worth-insurance-lawyer-blog-may-31-2025\/"},"modified":"2025-06-03T09:38:38","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T09:38:38","slug":"life-insurance-justified-delay-in-determining-claim-dallas-fort-worth-insurance-lawyer-blog-may-31-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=270246","title":{"rendered":"Life Insurance &#8211; Justified Delay In Determining Claim? \u2014 Dallas Fort Worth Insurance Lawyer Blog \u2014 May 31, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Here is a 2025 opinion from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.txs.uscourts.gov\/offices\/houston-division\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Southern District of Texas, Houston Division<\/a>, with an interesting twist. \u00a0The opinion is styled, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leagle.com\/decision\/infdco20250305c32\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kimberly Russell v. State Farm Life Insurance Company<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit alleges that State Farm took too long to investigate a claim for life insurance benefits. \u00a0The unusual aspect of this case is that the insured\u2019s filed a motion for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/wex\/summary_judgment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">summary judgment<\/a> because of the alleged delays in processing the claim. \u00a0It is usually the life insurer filing this type of motion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/wex\/summary_judgment\">On<\/a> January 7, 2022, Davion D\u2019Angelo Smith obtained a life insurance policy from State Farm. \u00a0Following his passing on May 26, 2022, his mother and named beneficiary, Kimberly Russell, promptly filed a claim. \u00a0In this suit, she alleges that State Farm engaged in prolonged delays and excessive documentation requests, beginning with a basic request on August 16, 2022. \u00a0She also claims that despite her prompt compliance, State Farm repeatedly asked for additional or revised documents without clear justification. \u00a0Over the next year, the company allegedly sent multiple \u201cstill processing\u201d notices without providing substantive updates or raising specific concerns about coverage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">On April 12, 2023, nearly a year after Smith\u2019s passing, State Farm requested records from the Texas Department of Pardons and Paroles and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Kimberly argues that she continued to cooperate, but the claim remained unpaid without a legitimate basis for denial. \u00a0On June 3, 2024, Kimberly\u2019s counsel sent a demand letter highlighting State Farm\u2019s delays and requesting payment. \u00a0The complaint alleges that State Farm has intentionally delayed payment by demanding unnecessary document requests, has failed to explain delays, and has been non-responsive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Here, State Farm has clearly identified factual disputes. \u00a0The application submitted by Kimberly Russell for Davion Smith\u2019s life insurance policy explicitly asked whether he had been convicted of a felony or incarcerated in the past three years. \u00a0Despite Smith\u2019s recent release from incarceration, just 17 days before the application date, both Russell and Smith falsely answered \u201cNo.\u201d \u00a0State Farm contends that had it known of this incarceration, it would not have issued the policy. \u00a0After Smith\u2019s death, State Farm requested documents from Russell, including authorization forms and criminal records from Harris County. \u00a0Russell did not provide the records, instead responding that she did not possess them and instructed State Farm to retrieve them on its own.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Under <a href=\"https:\/\/statutes.capitol.texas.gov\/Docs\/IN\/htm\/IN.705.htm#705.051\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Texas Insurance Code, section 705.051<\/a>, a material misrepresentation in an insurance<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">application can serve as a basis for denial of coverage if it affects the risk assumed by the insurer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Texas courts have held that misrepresentation about an applicant\u2019s criminal history and<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">incarceration status are material when they impact underwriting decisions.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here is a 2025 opinion from the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, with an interesting twist. \u00a0The opinion is styled, Kimberly Russell v. State Farm Life Insurance Company. The lawsuit alleges that State Farm took too long to investigate a claim for life insurance benefits. \u00a0The unusual aspect of this case is that the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":116455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[3767,13465,14667,1781,70379,2538,11034,44775,13466,3333,11288],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-270246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insurance","tag-blog","tag-claim","tag-dallas","tag-delay","tag-determining","tag-fort","tag-insurance","tag-justified","tag-lawyer","tag-life","tag-worth"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Life Insurance - Justified Delay In Determining Claim? \u2014 Dallas Fort Worth Insurance Lawyer Blog \u2014 May 31, 2025 - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=270246\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Life Insurance - Justified Delay In Determining Claim? \u2014 Dallas Fort Worth Insurance Lawyer Blog \u2014 May 31, 2025 - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here is a 2025 opinion from the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, with an interesting twist. \u00a0The opinion is styled, Kimberly Russell v. 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