Court Concludes AIDS Status Is Not a Required Disclosure
April 26, 2011
VASTOPOLIS -- A federal appeals court at the Downtown Courthouse has ruled against a widow who contends an insurance company should have told her husband that he tested positive for the AIDS virus. The Court of Appeals, in a ruling dated April 19, 2011 made public Monday, affirmed a federal judge's decision that the insurer wasn't required to release results of the blood test. Joeann Hyland of Vastopolis, sued Jackson National Life Insurance Co. after her husband, Fransisca, died in 1991 from AIDS-related complications. Mr. Hyland took a blood test in 1988 as part of an examination required before Jacques would consider increasing his coverage. The insurer said he was medically unsuitable but didn't tell him why until nine days before he died. Mrs. Hyland didn't return answering-machine messages. Her lawyer said she hasn't decided what to do next. In court papers, Jacques, a Lansing, Mich., unit of London-based Prudential Corp.. PLC, a financial services company, didn't say why it withheld the results -- only that it was within its rights to do so under local law. The couple lived in Vastopolis when Mr. Hyland fell ill.. The appeals-court ruling affirmed the decision of a U.S. district court judge, who said state law doesn't require disclosure if the result is only for eligibility.
