On April 8, 2015, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia heard oral arguments for Perdue v. Nationwide Life Insurance Company, et al. with regard to whether life insurance companies are statutorily obligated to search the Death Master File (DMF) for purposes of determining whether the dormancy period has been triggered on life insurance proceeds. In the latest in a series of skirmishes involving life insurance companies and state unclaimed property administrators, the state supreme court has to decide whether the West Virginia unclaimed property laws – which do not explicitly require life insurance companies to search or reference the DMF – nevertheless impliedly require this. This advisory discusses the positions advocated by the parties during oral argument.
Read the full advisory.
