Faked death on 9/11

This is the kind of thing I run into on a fairly regular basis. God, I love this job!


Mr. Colbert,

I'm writing with a request slightly more unusual than your usual ones. This is fraud from an individual against a company. I understand you represent individuals, but I was still hoping you may have the expertise (and, pray, the time) to help me.

The basic question is this:

Unbeknownst to his wife, a man fakes his own death. Years later, after his wife collects the insurance money from his policy, he is caught. Would the insurance company then be able to seek civil damages against the man's entire family, i.e his wife? Or is the suit set against him, leaving her to enjoy the money she initially got?

I understand you're very busy, and I hope you have the time to help. Thank you very much.

John

Hello John,
The insurance company has a fraud case against the husband, but unless the wife was in on it they can't sue her. Problem is that if they're still married the insurance company could go after their joint assets to satisfy a judgment against him.
As I read your message, several variables came to: How did the man fake his own death? Without a body, the insurance company would be very slow to pay off. For example, let's use the case where the man disappeared from the deck of the Carnival Cruise ship a few years ago. Even though foul play was suspected, a body was never recovered. To this day, I don't know if the life insurance company has paid off.
What if the man faked his own death during a time of war? His vehicle (or aircraft) was blown to bits and he was presumed dead? If the husband was a hero, the insurance company would have no choice but to relax their claim requirements. He comes home many years later after spending time in a foreign prison and/or hospital - Oh, I could spend a lot of time on figuring out the many aspects of cases just like this.
If you have any other questions, send me a message or give me a call.

Thanks,
Mark

Mr. Colbert,

Thank you for your response.

The man faked his death in the 9/11 attack. Was supposed to be in the building, but wasn't. He saw the opportunity and took it. So his wife and kid make good on the life insurance. Years later, he is caught.

Is the wife at any risk whatsoever? Will anything bad happen to her? If he's still alive, they would still be legally married, wouldn't they? So the assets that his family has acquired would be considered joint, correct?

Thank you for your assistance.

- John

Hello John,

You must realize that I can only comment on this from a very "general" standpoint and that specific case law from NY and the 9/11 event probably exists in some court.

You know, "your project" can be viewed from several different angles which can point in different directions.

We'll start with the Conspiracy Theory. Not the one Oliver Stone ran up the flagpole for all America to see, but the other one:
Was the wife in on the scam in any way? If so, she's going to be in trouble as well. Did the husband basically desert her and the kid and just head down to Mexico for 6 or 7 years? The insurance company's legal team is going to present that they were planning to get a divorce anyway and she assured him that the money would be used for the kid. Therefore, she was in on the scam and opens herself up to a claim for equitable relief.

So, the wife hasn't remarried in the time since 9/11? If she had, it would be easier to prove that she had no idea that he was still alive and moved on with her life. This scene was made famous at the end of Castaway. In this case, the wife and child are free and clear and the husband is held responsible. If she hasn't divorced him (why would she if she thought he was dead) then she would still be legally married to him. This law, I'm afraid might vary by state. She might be able to show in court that she would have moved on with her life if she had known he was still alive. Maybe their marriage would have worked, and maybe not. Since his death, she has gone through so much stress and fought the pain of never finding his body, she couldn't bring herself to remarry.

If she had known about it, the assets would be considered joint. I guess it all depends on her involvement in the "big picture."

Mark


Mr. Colbert,

Basically, what I need is to know is if she, and her livelihood, is at risk once he's caught. She has not remarried. She was not in on the scam.

Under those circumstances, what happens to her?

John

Hello John,

She understood that he died in the building and was, therefore, not part of a scam to defraud the insurance company. Because she did not remarry, she was still legally married to him when he was caught.

It is my opinion that if the wife was an honest, church-going woman, she would not have supported him in his plan to defraud the insurance company. In fact, if she had known the truth, she would not have agreed with him. If this were the case, she would probably be exonerated - after the divorce.

If he shows up on her doorstep after all those years and they resume the honeymoon, she will undoubtedly suffer from his actions as well.

I'm afraid this would be a judgment call made by the court. If I were a member of his defense team, I would be concerned that a jury wouldn't look too favorably on my client's actions, especially when so many people lost everything in the events of 9/11.

Mark