Greenberg Freeman prevails in litigation over insurance policy proceeds.

Greenberg Freeman scored a decisive victory for its client in a dispute among competing claimants to the proceeds of a life insurance policy purchased by a resident of Argentina before his death.  Although the deceased prepared two change of beneficiary forms during his lifetime naming our client (his niece) as the beneficiary of the policy, neither was properly recorded by the insurance company, leading to a challenge by the deceased’s children, who alleged that both change of beneficiary forms were forged or obtained through fraud.  The New York-based insurance company, unable to resolve the conflict on its own, brought an interpleader action in federal court to resolve the dispute among the competing claimants, all of whom were residents of Argentina.  Using documents obtained in discovery and the testimony of employees of the insurance broker who first placed the policy more than 20 years ago, and assisted by a renown expert in forensic handwriting analysis, we demonstrated that the deceased’s children’s allegations of forgery and fraud were baseless and that, even though the forms were never properly recorded by the insurance company, they established the insured’s intent to leave the proceeds of the policy to his niece.  Armed with this overwhelming evidence, Greenberg Freeman partner Michael Freeman was able to negotiate a settlement under which our client recovered more than 96% of the policy proceeds.