Dead Peasant Insurance is sometimes used as a shorthand reference for life insurance policies that insure a company’s rank-and-file employees and name the company as the beneficiary. This means that the company receives the life insurance benefits when the covered employees die. This insurance may also be called “janitor insurance,”…
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How did it get the name “Dead Peasant” insurance?
Winn Dixie Stores bought life insurance policies on approximately 36,000 of its employees, without their knowledge or consent, and named itself as the policies’ beneficiary. The insurance brokerage firm that placed the policies prepared two memos describing the deceased employees as “Dead Peasants.” These memos were part of the court’s record in a lawsuit in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that Winn-Dixie’s policies were a sham transaction for federal income tax purposes. The memos were later used by reporters such as Ellen Schultz and Theo Francis of the Wall Street Journal and L.M. Sixel of the Houston Chronicle and incorporated into articles about this type of insurance.
How does a person know if he or she is covered by a policy?
It is often difficult for a person to learn whether he or she was covered by a “Dead Peasant” policy. These insurance programs became popular during the mid-1980s and have been an available investment opportunity for large companies since that time. Prior to 2006, however, there was no federal law that required employers to disclose the policies to insured employees. Any disclosure requirements that existed before 2006 were only through state laws, which were ignored in many instances. So, the only way a person could learn about the policies was through the employer’s voluntary disclosure.
Which employers bought policies on the lives of employees?
Because a company’s purchase of insurance policies is not a public record, it is virtually impossible to know every company that invested in policies on employees’ lives. The following companies, however, are believed to have been named as the beneficiary of life insurance policies on …more »
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Germane to the above paste, is a bio on one of the leading attorneys who deal with this issue. This neither a referral nor an advertisement for Mr. Myers. However, his is a name that is frequently connected to cases.
Mike Myers has a national law practice involving class actions and commercial litigation at both the trial and appellate levels. He has been counsel in cases involving eighteen approved class action settlements, including the Wal-Mart and Fina Oil “dead peasant” insurance cases. He has argued before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Tenth and Fifth Circuits in landmark cases involving life insurance and personal privacy rights. A substantial part of his practice concerns corporate-owned life insurance and his cases have been reported in THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, and internationally in LEMONDE’S March 18, 2003 article Les Mortelles Combines Des Patrons Américains. Mike is frequently used as a media resource on the topics of insurance and annuities. He has appeared in the NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL and on CNN’s Prime News with Erica Hill to discuss life insurance issues and consulted on the documentary film SiCKO.
Before forming McClanahan • Myers • Espey, Mike was a partner with the Houston, Texas litigation boutique McClanahan & Clearman, L.L.P. where he practiced for thirteen years. He is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law and Texas A&M University and a former member of a United States Army explosive ordnance detachment. Mike was named a “rising star” lawyer by Texas Lawyer magazine in 2006 and one of Houston’s top attorneys by H-Texas magazine in 2008 and 2009.
