Benefits September 5, 2002

Court: No Insurance Money for 'Voodoo High Priest'

September 5, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A life insurance administrator was in the right when it turned down benefits to the widow of a Minnesota pharmacist who allegedly took his own life as part of his duties as a Voodoo high priest.
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The US 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that UNUM Life Insurance Company of America acted reasonably in denying Sarah Phillips-Foster’s claims for benefits from her husband Mark’s policy, BNA reported. The appeals court upheld a ruling by a lower federal court.

Police reports indicated that Mark Foster was involved in a cult and that he had conspired with one of his cult “students” to kill him so Foster’s soul would “transfer into the student’s body,” the ruling said.

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The police also determined that Foster’s wife could not be ruled out as a suspect in the murder conspiracy.

According to the BNA, the court also cited the fact that:

  • two weeks prior to his death, Foster had taken out a new life insurance policy and drafted a new will
  • Foster had written his own obituary and made a “goodbye” videotape for his family in the days prior to his death.

$400,000 in Total Coverage

According to court papers, Foster was covered under a group life insurance plan from UNUM provided as part of his employment as a Drug Emporium pharmacist.

The plan provided a $100,000 basic life benefit. Foster purchased additional coverage in the amount of $100,000. The plan also provided accidental death and dismemberment insurance coverage in the amount of $200,000. The plan included a suicide exclusion that applied to all but the $100,000 basic life insurance.

According to the BNA story, Foster’s body was found on the side of a road in July 1997 with a gunshot wound to his chest.

Based on the police investigation, UNUM denied coverage under the policy’s suicide exclusion for the $100,000 additional life insurance and the $200,000 accidental death and dismemberment insurance, and withheld payment of the $100,000 in basic life insurance to Phillips-Foster, the BNA report said.

Phillips-Foster sued under ERISA, challenging UNUM’s denial of benefits. A Minnesota federal judge upheld the insurer’s decision in October 2001.

In agreeing with the lower court, appeals judges rejected Phillips-Foster’s arguments including one that UNUM took too long to make its benefits determination.

The case is Phillips-Foster v. UNUM Life Insurance Co. of America, 8th Cir., No. 01-3570, 9/4/02.

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