Williams v. Trustmark Insurance

EDITH BROWN CLEMENT,

Circuit Judge: *

This case requires us to interpret a Louisiana state law that awards penalties to insurance beneficiaries whose claims were wrongly denied. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

Annie Mae Williams began participating in the Terrebonne Parish School Board’s health insurance plan in 1990. Her policy allowed a lifetime maximum benefit of one million dollars. Additionally, the policy contained an annual restoration provision (or “add-back” provision), by which the lesser of two thousand dollars or the actual benefits paid in a given year…