Results

Stacy won a victory in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington in Gustafson-Feis v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., 535 F. Supp. 3d 1076 (W.D. Wash. 2021). The court agreed that Reliance Standard had failed to conduct a reasonable investigation into the question of whether the insured’s disabling injury was caused by a pre-existing condition.

Stacy won in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington against Life Insurance Company of America in  Wolf v. Life Ins. Co. of N. Am., 541 F. Supp. 3d 1191, 1193 (W.D. Wash. 2021), aff’d, 46 F.4th 979 (9th Cir. 2022). The court concluded that the death of the insured in a drunk driving accident was indeed an accident under the policy and not “a foreseeable outcome of his voluntary actions,” as the insurer insisted. The Ninth Circuit upheld the win.

Stacy won an important motion against Unum Group in Lieberman v. Unum Grp., No. 520CV1798JGBSPX, 2021 WL 4807643, at *6 (C.D. Cal. Oct. 14, 2021). This motion forced Unum to produce confidential board minutes, committee reports, financial documents related to Unum’s long-term care book of business, personnel records, and contracts between Unum and its third-party medical reviewers. This win directly led to Unum agreeing to settle the case for a very favorable, though confidential, amount rather than reveal the court-ordered documents.

Stacy achieved a significant settlement in Regis v Fire Insurance Exchange, Case No. 20 STCV16639, Los Angeles County Superior Court. Plaintiff lost his home in a fire that killed his sister. After paying monthly payments for several years on his policy rather than semi-annual payments, Farmers decided it would no longer accept them and canceled his policy days before the fire. This happened in the early days of the pandemic, in the period when Farmers had promised not to cancel any insurance policies due to lack of payment. Farmers eventually paid the claim in full, as well as a significant additional confidential settlement.