Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. and two other entities are being sued by two women who allege they were compensated for only one-eighth of the nearly $80,000 cost of a chartered flight after a loved one died on a trip in a remote part of Indonesia in 2023.
Wendy Klein and Deborah Klein are the widow and sister, respectively, of the late Joseph Klein, who died in a desolate section of Indonesia on March 7, 2023, less than two weeks after Joseph, Deborah and six others — a total of eight people — departed the U.S. after having paid for travel insurance, according to the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit, which was brought Monday and alleges breach of contract and the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
The suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. A Nationwide representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
According to the suit, Joseph and Deborah Klein contracted with Nationwide for travel insurance in February 2023. World Nomads sold the policies and Trip Mate was the claims adjustor. Both those companies also are defendants.
Nationwide agreed under the policies to “pay up to the maximum benefit shown on the schedule of benefits for the covered repatriation expenses incurred to return your body to the United States of America if you die during the trip,” the suit states.
Nationwide conditioned the benefit upon the arrangements being “authorized in advance and arranged by the company or the company’s travel assistance company,” but Nationwide later waived that condition, according to the complaint.
Joseph Klein’s body had to be embalmed before it could be flown back to the U.S. and after that procedure was done in the city of Tobelo, he was transported to the capital city of Jakarta on a chartered flight that cost $77,860, the suit states.
The plaintiffs filed a claim for the cost of the chartered flight in March 2023, but the defendants “took the position that the cost of the chartered flight must be divided among the passengers for indemnification and proceeded to only indemnify plaintiffs for one-eighth of the cost of the flight,” according to the suit.
The defendants denied the plaintiffs’ appeal and reaffirmed their position in another notification last August, the suit states.
The plaintiffs continue to suffer emotional distress, mental suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, inconvenience, grief and anxiety, the suit alleges.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys include Raymond P. Boucher, who won landmark verdicts against the archdioceses of Los Angeles and San Diego for child sex abuse.