Prather v. Sun Life

DeBofsky Law scored a victory on December 13, 2016, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a ruling in the case of Prather v. Sun Life & Health Ins. Co. (U.S.), 842 F.3d 733 (7th Cir. 2016). The case, which involved a claim for accidental death insurance benefits, overturned a lower court ruling denying Lee Ann Prather’s claim for accidental death insurance benefits submitted when her late husband, Jeremy Prather, died shortly after undergoing surgery to repair an injury to Prather’s Achilles tendon suffered during a basketball game and ordered Sun Life to pay the full amount of benefits claimed. A subsequent opinion order Sun Life to pay Prather’s attorneys’ fees. The court found that Sun Life lacked any evidence supporting its decision and ruled that Jeremy Prather’s untimely death constituted an “accident” under the terms of the policy.