CALIFORNIA COURT OF APPEAL TO ADDRESS INSURERS' DUTY TO DISCLOSE PHYSICAL EXAMINATION RESULTS
We have been asked by defendants National Life Insurance Company and Life Insurance Company of the Southwest to alert our insurance carrier clients to an issue now pending in the California Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District (San Francisco).
In Zimmerman v. Agnew, the Court of Appeal will consider the following issue:
Does an insurer have a duty to disclose to a life insurance applicant the results of a physical examination performed to evaluate the applicant's physical condition?
The Zimmerman case involved a life insurance applicant whose pre-insurance physical revealed elevated triglyceride levels. Nonetheless, the carrier issued the life insurance policy. Subsequently, the plaintiff contacted pancreatitis which he blamed in part on the insurer's failure to disclose the elevated triglyceride level and the plaintiff's resulting failure to seek treatment.
In the trial court, the plaintiff relied on the special relationship between insurer and insured. The trial court, however, held the insurer had no affirmative duty to disclose the results of a pre-insurance physical where the applicant received the policy requested. Plaintiffs have appealed.
To decide the plaintiff's appeal, the Court of Appeal will likely examine the extent to which an insurer who requires a physical examination of its applicants undertakes a duty of care to those applicants with regard to their physical condition.
If you are interested in filing an amicus curiae brief in support of the insurers' position in this case, please contact David Axelrad at daxelrad@horvitzlevy.com, or (818) 995-0800.
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