Contingent Fee Business Litigation Blog
Federal appeals court: ten-year limitations statute applies to Louisiana "dead peasant" case
On February 11, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an opinion in the case Richard v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. The case was filed by the estate of a former Wal-Mart employee to recover life insurance benefits that Wal-Mart received from its “corporate-owned” policies; sometimes called “dead peasant” policies. The estate sued under a Louisiana statute that allows estates to recover policy benefits when the designated beneficiary (in this case Wal-Mart) did not have an “insurable interest” in the insured person’s life.
The district court held that the suit was subject to a one-year statute of limitations and dismissed it for being filed too late. But the court of appeals reversed, holding that the suit was timely under Louisiana’s ten-year statute of limitations. (Read the court’s opinion).
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