Zena Phillips v. The Prudential Insurance Compa

FEINERMAN, District Judge.

Plaintiff Zena Phillips was a beneficiary of a life insurance policy taken out by her fiancé, Michael Strang, and issued by Defendant Pruco Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Defendant Prudential Life Insurance Company of America (together, “Prudential”). When Strang died, Prudential informed Phillips that the default method for paying the claim was the “Alliance Account settlement option.” The Alliance Account is what the insurance industry calls a “retained asset account,” under which the insurer, instead of paying a lump-sum death benefit, creates an…