In Minnesota Life Ins. Co. v. Alexander, ___ F. Supp. 3d ___, No. 2:22cv207, 2023 WL 6290820 (E.D. Va. Sept. 25, 2023) the Court allowed a life insurance company to interplead multiple various entities which did or could claim to be beneficiaries. Minnesota Life, 2023 WL 6290820, at *4.
But the Court did not allow the life insurance company to recover its attorney's fees in the interpleader. The Court ruled, in a case of apparent first impression within the Fourth Circuit, that the interpleading insurance company cannot recover its fees and costs where it is acting in the ordinary course of business in bringing the interpleader. That was the case here, the Court ruled. Minnesota Life, 2023 WL 6290820, at *4-*5.
Interpleader and attorney's fees are discussed in the context of both third-party and first-party insurance bad faith cases in both Volumes of DENNIS J. WALL, LITIGATION AND PREVENTION OF INSURER BAD FAITH (West Publishing Co. 3d Edition, 2024 Supplements in process).
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