In McHugh v. Protective Life Ins., 40 Cal. App. 5th,
1166 (2019), the Court of Appeal affirmed a jury verdict in favor
of a life insurance company, holding that statutes extending the
required grace period before a policy can be terminated for
nonpayment of premium do not apply retroactively to policies issued
before the effective date of the statutes.
Protective Life Insurance ("Protective Life") issued a
60-year term life insurance policy to William Patrick McHugh in
2005. The policy provided for a 31-day grace period before
Protective Life could terminate it for failure to pay the
premium.
On January 1, 2013, Insurance Code sections 10113.71 and
10113.72 (the "Statutes") came into effect, requiring
life insurance policies to provide for a 60-day grace period before
they could be terminated for nonpayment of premium.
