A matter of policy
In the latest twist in the macabre practice of employers taking out insurance policies on employees in order to collect when they die (see WIT for June 18, 2000), Wal-Mart is simultaneously facing a lawsuit by the wife of deceased assistant store manager covered by such a policy, and suing the insurance companies that it bought such policies from. Stemming from a $300,000 corporate-owned life insurance (COLI) policy on a now deceased assistant store manager, the lawsuit by the worker’s wife is the second COLI related lawsuit against the company, and has the potential to become a class action suit---carrying major implications for Wal-Mart, Disney, AT&T and other COLI holders. Claiming that it has lost $150 million on COLI’s, Wal-Mart is suing the insurance companies that it bought COLI’s from, alleging that the companies are to blame for its failure to make a tax-sheltered profit on the policies, because they did not warn Wal-Mart that state laws might prevent them from collecting on the policies when employees died.
See "A matter of policy", SARAH SCHWEITZER, The Boston Globe, December 9, 2002