PHILADELPHIA – A Haverford man claims the million-dollar life insurance policy he intended to use as a retirement annuity was not set up properly and that he was misled on that development, leaving him to suffer monetary damages.
Albert G. Conicella filed suit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on June 1 against Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York, N.Y., Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company of Horsham and Ryan Shanley of Conshohocken.
“Plaintiff, Albert Conicella, met defendant, Ryan Shanley, about four years ago, and asked to set up an annuity policy for plaintiff’s retirement plan. Shanley was working as an insurance representative of MetLife at that time. Shanley set up a whole life insurance policy with MetLife for plaintiff on or about July 16, 2014, with a face value of $1,000,000 and monthly payments of $1,000.51. Shanley informed plaintiff that defendant was moving to Penn Mutual and Shanley wanted to exchange plaintiff’s policy to Penn Mutual. Defendant assured plaintiff that the cash value in plaintiff’s account with MetLife would be transferred to his new account at Penn Mutual and plaintiff would have the same face value as he had with MetLife,” according to the lawsuit.
The suit says Shanley unilaterally decided to close Conicella’s MetLife account and set up another life insurance policy with Penn Mutual, also with a face value of $1,000,000, supposedly to gain the financial incentive which came with opening a new account at the latter company. However, Shanley avers Shanley did not exchange the policy from MetLife to Penn Mutual, which led Conicella’s account to lapse with no cash value due to a failure to pay the premium on July 16, 2015.
“As a result of [alleged] fraud and misrepresentation of Shanley’s actions, plaintiff terminated his whole life policy with Penn Mutual on or about December 2016. Defendant Penn Mutual had superior responsibility regarding the actions of their agents and their actions on policyholder’s financial life. Defendant Penn Mutual failed to properly investigate about their agent at the time of hiring and/or supervise their agent’s actions during course of employment,” the suit says.
For counts of bad faith, negligence/negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract/unjust enrichment/promissory estoppel, breach of fiduciary duty, alleged violation of Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (UTPCPL), declaratory judgment and fraud/fraudulent misrepresentation, the plaintiff is seeking damages in excess of $50,000, plus interest, costs of suit, punitive damages and fraud/fraudulent misrepresentation, in this matter.
The plaintiff is represented by Matthew B. Weisberg of Weisberg Law in Morton, and Gary Schafkopf of Schafkopf Law, in Bala Cynwyd.
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 170504483
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nickpennrecord@gmail.com