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Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Hartford Life | Case #BC645326

The Hartford has recently been the target of a class action lawsuit from one of the premier bad faith insurance lawyers in the country, Shernoff Bidart Echeverria LLP and Consumer Watchdog. The original law lawsuit, available as a download here, said

Consumers purchase life insurance coverage to provide peace of mind to themselves, and financial support to their families when they die. The life insurance coverage at issue here is no exception. In fact, Plaintiff’s and class members’ life insurance coverage provides an extra layer of protection to ensure consumers are able maintain their life insurance coverage in the event they become disabled. Plaintiff’s and class members’ life insurance policies include a ‘waiver of premium’ provision intended to ensure that consumers will not be priced out of their coverage in the event they become disabled and lose their job.  Under the waiver of premium provision, an insured that becomes disabled is no longer required to pay premiums on his or her life insurance coverage and cannot be dropped from coverage for failure to pay. Without such a protection, consumers face the very real threat that their coverage will be terminated if they are unable to pay their premium when they become disabled, resulting in the loss of valuable life insurance coverage.

In the original Hartford life insurance lawsuit article Travis Corby, a Partner at Shernoff Bidart Echeverria LLP said “Hartford is purposefully ignoring the law in order to deny insurance coverage and reap the financial rewards.” He went on to say “We filed this lawsuit to expose this bad faith practice and to warn others who may have been taken advantage of by Hartford.”

The lead plaintiff, a man by the name of Keith Laster, was a policyholder who was injured under a $250,000 Hartford life insurance policy. As a construction manager for the City of Anaheim, Mr. Laster had arthritis which caused severe pain in his arms, wrists and shoulders. As a consequence of his last surgery, Mr. Laster was unable to return to work due to severe pain and the usage of required prescription medications.

After his first application for a ‘waiver of premium” was denied under his policy with Hartford, they reversed their decision in October of 2014 conceding that he was indeed “totally disabled.” Then, less than a year later, Hartford revoked the waiver and said that Mr. Laster was not prevented from doing “any work” allegedly citing a note from his previous doctor which said he could work up to 3 hours a day, 5 days a week as long as he didn’t lift over 10 pounds.

Mr. Laster said “I bought life insurance to provide peace of mind to myself and financial support to my family if something were to happen to me, including if I became disabled… I feel like I have been deceived and left hung out to dry with no protection.”

The lawsuit seeks to compel Hartford to apply the correct definition of “Total Disability” when reviewing “Waiver of Premium” claims, and to reimburse consumers who have been harmed as a result of Hartford’s alleged unlawful scheme to deny life insurance benefits.

Los Angeles Superior Court, Case No. BC645326: Keith Laster et al. v. Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company


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Shernoff Bidart Echeverria LLP


Shernoff Bidart Echeverria LLP are bad faith insurance and personal injury lawyers who lead the nation in protecting policyholders from insurance company abuse. The firm has been protecting the rights of personal and business insurance policyholders for over 40 years after having set the legal precedent requiring insurance companies to act in good faith.Our attorneys also represent people involved in personal injury and catastrophic accident cases. If you were injured in an accident, due to a defective product, or if a loved one suffered a wrongful death due to the negligence or recklessness of others, we can help you recover the financial compensation you deserve. Most recently we have been... View full business profile here: Shernoff Bidart Echeverria LLP





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