A Florida appeals court finds that an insurance agent is guilty of grand theft for selling elderly individuals insurance policies that they did not want or need. McKernan v. State (Fla. Ct. App., 4th Dist., No. 4D06-4392, Oct. 10, 2007).
William McKernan tricked elderly individuals into buying life insurance policies by claiming that the individuals were purchasing health insurance policies. Mr. McKernan was arrested, and the buyers were able to obtain refunds of their policy premiums. Mr. McKernan was charged with grand theft and pleaded no contest.
Mr. McKernan argued that the grand theft charge should have been dismissed because insurance premiums cannot be the subject of a taking. The trial court denied his claim and he appealed.
The Florida Court of Appeals affirms, holding that Mr. McKernan was guilty of grand theft because he intentionally deprived the victims of the money they paid for the policies so that he could get the commissions. According to the court, the fact that the victims were reimbursed does not absolve him.
To download the full text of this decision in PDF format, go to: https://www.4dca.org/Oct%202007/10-10-07/4D06-4392.op.pdf.
(If you do not have the free PDF reader installed on your computer, download it here.)
Did you know that the ElderLawAnswers database now contains summaries of more than 1,200 fully searchable elder law decisions dating back to 1993? To search the database, click here