Heath Ledger's life insurance company playing hardball
ReliaStar Life Insurance is refusing to pay the $10 million death benefit on Heath Ledger's insurance policy because they believe the actor committed suicide. Ledger's death was officially ruled an accident by the Chief Medical Examiner of New York. A trial date has been set for Aug. 4, 2009, where ReliaStar will argue their case. William Shernoff, the attorney representing the trust for Ledger's daughter Matilda told the New York Daily News:
“We think [ReliaStar] is acting in bad faith. The official report ruled it was an accidental death.” (Source)
I think a compromise between the two parties is in order and here it is: ReliaStar should fuck off. The end.
[WENN]
i think reliastar should back off!!! if the majority of the people say it was an accident then let it go!!!!! matilda should get the money if that is wat the family wants to do !! seriuosly since heath's death everyone is just thinking aboout the insurance and who is getting the money!!! seriuosly this very very talented and young actor with a great life ahead of him died!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why don't everyone start thinking about his family, how they feel and what about matilda her father just died seriuosly!!! you guys are pathetic!!!! hey and he was the best joker ever!!!!!!!#1 heath ledger R.I.P.!!
Good for the insurance company. Everybody has been protecting this selfish person. I always roll my eyes when everybody puts these halos over these disturbed actors. And make no mistake they are all disturbed. He killed himself if I were on that jury I would rule in favor of the insurance company.
defiantly a suicide, i feel bad for the guy but he did kill himself
Evidence that he killed himself please!
honestly, even if it was a suicide it was legally ruled as an accident. theres a thing called evidence like TheUsualSuspect said. we dont just jump to baseless conclusions in trials do we? we need evidence and seeing how it was already ruled as an accident, there wasnt a sufficient amount of evidence to point to a suicide. thus the insurance company is legally bound to pay the money and people should be happy since it seems like it would go to the child. this has nothing to do with heath anymore, but has everything to do with money.
Although I can appreciate where the insurance company is coming from (Heath may not have committed suicide but his actions were pretty reckless and insurance companies have legal expectations of reasonable behavior from their clients and if their clients aren't going to abide such expectations then the clients are obligated to make such things known) it really is going to have no choice in the matter unless the policy had some stipulation about reckless behavior
Doesnt he have a young child that is going to be impacted by all this?
I would think that child is the most important issue in all of this, and that insurance money should be going towards that child and giving it a decent life since he isnt around anymore.
OMG that child is taken care of by her mother. do not forget that he did not care about his child when he killed himself. i still am on the side of the insurance company. the police/coroner's office covered his death up.
Oh fuck you all ur just heartless son of a bitches, he had major reasons to live for, he would never leave his daughter and family, i think u should first of all know what was really going on to say something about it. If u knew heath u should shut up in this second. He was a very devoted father, son and brother and yes, it is definitely all about money, they wanna be sure they get everything, they dont care or think about what his family and friends are confronting now bc it doesnt really gets easier to deal with. He was the most incredible and lovely person letting us with his great performances and amazing work. Im glad there are still believers in this world.
Heath was just too incredible for that shitty words u all are saying.
The evidence that he killed himself is that he ingested the stuff that killed him, and there is no evidence that someone else shoved it down his throat. Nevertheless, I guess the cops concluded it was an accidental overdose --- i.e., he killed himself, but he didn't mean to kill himself. Maybe so. Stranger things have happened.
so your arguements are: lost potential, dick moves, ignorance, denial, blind acceptance, complete lunacy, won't somebody think of the children, and harsh sentencing. all valid in their own light, all void in each others.
yes he was very good, and proboably would have went on to do outstanding amazing things, but not anymore, and grieving for someone's lost potential soon turns in to cursing them for wasting it, and that's not how you want to remember a person that you looked up to, trust me.
oh, sunny, the very fact that you are assuming that they are all disturbed all the while say that a persons death was a selfish choice, makes you look just as disturbed as you claim everyone else to be.
reckless behaviour, really, your grounds for dismissal of a life insurance policy is that he didn't take care of himself. that's what insurance is for, something happens, as a result you die, your family gets money. it's a pretty simple process and yet you make it so difficult. let me guess what you next move is, you want to deny life insurance all together on the grounds that, "everybody gotta die someday right".
leave the damn children out of our stupid mindless meandering ultimatly pointless "discussions". they have way more important things to do, like play outside, imagine, and create something for and with absolutly no purpose at all, and it is more important than anything we do.
and once again sunny...sunny, sunny, sunny...how clear you see things, it truly is astonishing with what clarity your eyes pierce the fog of balogna and goose poop that is the modern societally accepted norms of bereavement and coping with loss. because of one mans actions you would put a child, A CHILD, at a perminent life disadvantage, that child will have a void that will follow her her entire life, a void that no matter what or who she tries to fill it with will endlessly swollow whole, but as long as she has a mother right.
the truth, the only truth of the matter is that he is dead, we will never know exactly how it happened or for why, and any answer beyond that will only be to serve our own comfort, that is the selfish choice. not death, but using death to ease our own burdens.
The official report ruled it was an accidental death.
ReliaStar must pay.
End of story.
Still a little suprising that a company like ReliaStar (affiliate of ING Group) can afford this kind of bad publicity.
you can only void a life insurance claim if someone commits suicide within the first 2 years of their policy.
The cops didn't conclude anything Grego - not their job. The Chief Medical Officer of NYC concluded that his death was accidental and that the combination of medications killed him.
You're right. I stand corrected.
Sunny... I hope you have to deal with an insurance company when someone you love dies... of course there has to be someone who cares for you.
C'mon people, this is what courts are for. The fact that it is a big insurance company doesn't mean it has the right to give away its shareholder's money without asking questions in what could be seen as a questionable situation. His daughter, wife, family, favorite charity, etc. have nothing to do with it. If the evidence suggests accidental death, the insurer loses - what's the problem?
He killed himself for sure, i don't know the legal definition of suicide and accident. Knowing the possible outcome of mixing different prescribed drugs, he killed himself.
It's not fair for the company to pay 10 millions. It might make the company goes bankrupted.
People only see his young daughter as the victim, but has anyone thought about all the employees and their family, if the insurance company goes bankrupted... what will happend to them???
To those who worry about the insurance company getting "bankrupted" (sorry, if you cannot spell, you lose all credibility with me)....do you not see insurance companies are part of the problem; you clearly are not aware of some of their unfair policies and practices. They are worse than bankers, lawyers and politicians all rolled into one. You'll find out when you get sick, and they decline all your claims. Trust me. Insurance companies are never victims.
i believe in nys if the life insurance has been paid over 2 years they have to pay out, they might be tring to pull a fast one, they
sound more like "Larry, moe, curly" pay the joker!
HE DID NOT KNOWINGLY PLAN TO COMMIT SUICIDE! HE WAS CHILLIN', AND HE ACCIDENTLY DIED. PERIOD!! HIS PERFORMANCE AS THE JOKER IN "THE DARK KNIGHT", PROVES THAT HE LOVED HIS CRAFT AND THE POSITIVE DIRECTION THAT HIS LIFE WAS TAKING.
THE INSURANCE COMPANY SHOULD BE SUED BY HEATH'S FAMILY FOR ATTEMPTING TO COMMIT FRAUD. HEATH WAS A SWEET, TALENTED ACTOR....HE WILL BE MISSED!
may you rest in peace......amen