February 16, 2009

Some life insurance products sold to large employers on the lives of their employees have little or nothing to do with traditional reasons for the purchase of life insurance, but instead are meant to allow the employers to pursue tax and investment goals. In the course of doing so, they supposedly bet on the lives of their lower-level employees -- hence the terms "dead-peasant" or "janitors'" insurance. Lawyers have begun suing on the theory that "COLI" or "BOLI" (corporate-owned or bank-owned life insurance) is an imposition on the employees in question (who neither benefit from nor pay into this peculiar line of insurance, and are commonly not much aware that it is going on at all). Expect more such litigation to be rolled out soon, against large banks in particular. [NLJ]