Health checks after insurance claims
Child v. Unum Life Insurance Company of America
In brief
- Where it stands
- Dismissed
Petition denied.
- What it’s about
- Denise J. Child challenges Unum Life Insurance Company of America’s denial of her claim, arguing Iowa rules bar the insurer from relying on a health condition first considered when she claimed guaranteed-issue coverage.
- Who it affects
- The denial ended Supreme Court review of Child's dispute but did not decide whether Unum's denial complied with Iowa law.
Summary: written with AI from the case record.
What it's about
Her petition asks whether a federal court may instead apply the judge-made known-loss rule.
The case concerns Iowa rules that, as described in the question, bar insurers from making a health inquiry at claim time if they did not make it when guaranteed-issue coverage began.
Question presented
Whether, under Erie R.R. Co. v. Tompkins, a federal court sitting in diversity may displace Iowa’s National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)-modeled statutory and regulatory prohibition against postclaims underwriting, which exempts guaranteed-issue coverage from health inquiry at issuance and bars an insurer from performing that omitted inquiry at claim time — by applying a judge-made known-loss doctrine to permit a health-condition determination made only at claim time to support a claim denial.
Documents
Docket activity
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Sources
Primary materials plus reporting. Best-effort analysis: this explainer relies on a mix of primary materials and trusted secondary sources. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.