Lunsford v. Western States Life Insurance

This case concerns the scope of protection provided by Colorado’s “slayer statute” to insurance companies that paid life insurance policy proceeds to a primary beneficiary who *81was later determined to have murdered the insured, where the insurers did not receive written notice of competing claims from the contingent beneficiaries prior to disbursement. See § 15-11-803, 6B C.R.S. (1987) (“slayer statute”). The plaintiff contingent beneficiaries obtained a judgment for damages against the defendant insurers based on a jury determination that the insurers acted negligently in paying the policy…