USAA Life Insurance v. Boyce

William G. Wright, Special Chief Justice.

This is an appeal by USAA Life Insurance Company from the trial court’s award of 12% penalty and attorneys’ fees. The insured, a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army stationed in Georgia, was shot to death on November 13, 1980. His wife, who was the primary beneficiary of the three life insurance policies at issue, was convicted of murdering her husband. The conviction was affirmed on appeal by the Georgia Supreme Court. The alternate beneficiary named in each of the policies was the estate of the decedent, and specifically his attorney, Sam Boyce, as…