[WSBAPT] Life Insurance refusing to pay out; delay and interest owed under RCW

Tue May 27 14:39:13 PDT 2025

I also worked as counsel in the compliance department for a large life insurer and can say that insurers are held to specific compliance requirements with regard to complaints.  While I can’t speak to complaints filed with a court, I can say that complaints insurance companies are required to tally and respond to with specific time parameters fall into two categories:  1) complaints directly to the insurer from the consumer and 2) complaints to the state insurance regulator.  If you have not already tried this route, you might make a formal complaint to the Washington Insurance Commissioner (or the insurance regulator of another state where the policy was issued if not WA) about the failure to pay and the interest owed.  This category of complaint receives a higher degree of attention due to its visibility and the strict deadlines the company has for its detailed response to the WA insurance commissioner regarding their resolution of the matter.  You really don’t need to worry about who in the company to contact because the state regulator takes care of that.

That would be an easy course of action while you piece together your arguments for whatever breach or unfair trade practice or whatever other claim you would make next (look at RCW 48.30 and all its pertinent sections).  And yes, that interest is real and owing and should be claimed.  I recall those interest statutes are all over the board in different states with a lot of rates not being indexed or updated by anything and therefore out of step with other current interest rates.  It adds up to a lot, especially on large policies and for states like this one where interest goes back to date of death regardless of when notice of death is sent to the insurer.  That should be motivating the insurer to pay this promptly.

Which unfortunately would make me suspicious.  I’m not sure how direct your communication has been with the insurer but you will want to confirm for certain that no beneficiary was named and not just that the company won’t reveal beneficiary information because your client wasn’t named.

Katie Patel
Paraclete Estate Planning, LLC
(541) 499-9085 (direct)
112 Genessee Street
Medford, OR 97504

From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of Brent Williams-Ruth
Sent: Saturday, May 24, 2025 8:34 AM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: Re: [WSBAPT] Life Insurance refusing to pay out; delay and interest owed under RCW

Good Morning Dalynne -

I have NOT filed a complaint under that but, from my life as a former insurance industry coverage attorney - first-party claims against insurers include: Breach of Contract, Breach of IFCA (the insurance fair conduct act); Tort of Bad Faith; and the whammy - Violations of the Consumer Protection Act.  Many of these include award of attorneys fees, the CPA carries treble damages.

FYI - to file an IFCA claim you must also first file notice with the Washington Insurance Commissioner.

A well-written letter, along with filing of the claim with the Insurance Commissioner may likely move some folks into action. I am not familiar with this particular insurer but make sure that any notice is sent to the appropriate notice agent. There is an entire listing of non-admitted carriers if they fall within that category.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Brent Williams-Ruth (pronouns: he/him)
Attorney-At-Law

Law Offices of Brent Williams-Ruth, a division of BWR Consulting, PLLC

Physical Address: 500 S 336th Street, Suite 214; Federal Way, WA 98003

Mailing Address: PO BOX 3319; Federal Way, WA 98063

Office/Scheduling Phone: (253) 285-7751

For All Meetings & Scheduling: info at williams-ruthlaw.com<mailto:info at williams-ruthlaw.com>

e-mail<mailto:Brent at Williams-RuthLaw.com> / website<http://www.williams-ruthlaw.com/> / facebook<http://www.facebook.com/bwrlaw> /

On Sat, May 24, 2025 at 8:20 AM Dalynne Singleton <dalynne at glgmail.com<mailto:dalynne at glgmail.com>> wrote:
I have a life insurance company refusing to provide monies in payment to Estate when no beneficiary named.
Has anyone filed complaint pursuant to RCW 48.23.300?

RCW 48.23.300 outlines the requirements for policy settlements and interest for life insurance in Washington State.
Usually when I send a demand letter with a deadline, the insurer pays the policy plus interest.

Insurer is USAble Life – all I am getting is for death more than 2 years ago - delays and no monies.

Any sample complaints would be appreciated.  I did some legal research and didn’t find any caselaw.  Thank you.
Interest on Death Benefits: Insurers must pay interest on death benefits from the date of death at a rate not less than 8% 1.
Additional Interest: If benefits are not tendered within 90 days of receiving proof of death, an additional 3% interest accrues from the 91st day 1.
Dalynne Singleton
Dalynne Singleton
Gourley Law Group
Snohomish Escrow/The Exchange Connection
1002 10th Street / PO Box 1091
Snohomish, WA 98291
360.568.5065
360.568.8092  fax
dalynne at glgmail.com<mailto:dalynne at glgmail.com>  Website:  www.glglawgroup.com<http://www.glglawgroup.com/>
Attorney/client meetings will be handled virtually whenever possible.  If you would like to set a consultation, please call/email one my paralegals Valerie valerie at glgmail.com<mailto:valerie at glgmail.com>, Kelly kelly at glgmail.com<mailto:kelly at glgmail.com>, or Theresa theresa at glgmail.com<mailto:theresa at glgmail.com>.  My co-counsel is Attorney Spencer Clower with paralegal, Kristin Jacobs, for Estate litigation (spencer at glgmail.com<mailto:spencer at glgmail.com> kristin at glgmail.com<mailto:kristin at glgmail.com>) & Carrie Ulrich and Candace Wilkerson, co-counsel in probate (carrie at glgmail.com<mailto:carrie at glgmail.com> and candace at glgmail.com<mailto:candace at glgmail.com> ).

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