Prudential Wrong to Pay Benefits With Checkbook Accounts: Judge

Prudential Insurance Co. of America was wrong to pay life insurance benefits in a checkbook-style account rather than in a single lump-sum payment, a federal judge ruled.

Because Prudential’s life insurance plans required that benefits be paid in “one sum,” the insurer breached its duties under federal benefits law when it instead paid policy proceeds through retained asset accounts, the judge said Dec. 7. The decision comes a year after the judge declined to certify the case as a class action, meaning that this ruling against Prudential will have an immediate effect on only the three life insurance beneficiaries ...