Edna Kersting (Partner-Chicago, IL) succeeded in defeating Plaintiff’s appeal of a summary judgment ruling in favor of the firm’s life insurance company client in the Illinois First District Appellate Court. The matter involved a reduction of death benefits due to an age misrepresentation by the insured decedent at the time of application in accordance with Illinois law and policy language. In the underlying suit, the plaintiff alleged willful and wanton wrongdoing and bad faith, claiming that the life insurance company and its agents encouraged age misrepresentations, targeting the elderly and African American communities. Edna argued that the plaintiff’s claims were counterintuitive because the firm’s client stands to gain nothing by selling policies with premiums that do not correspond to the risk assumed, given that it was lied to about the proposed insured’s age. Edna demonstrated the claims against the firm’s client were completely unfounded and after prevailing on summary judgment in the Circuit Court for Cook County, the First District Appellate Court affirmed.