Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. and two other entities have responded to a lawsuit in which a family claims they were shortchanged for the cost of a charter flight when a member of their family died on a vacation trip to Indonesia, saying the limitations on the policy were clear.
The plaintiffs in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit are Deborah Klein, sister of the late Joseph Klein, and Joseph Klein’s widow, Wendy Klein. The co-defendants with Nationwide are World Nomads Inc., which sold the Kleins the policy, and claims administrator Trip Mate Inc.
“Plaintiffs’ claims are barred, in whole or in part, because defendants Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co and Trip Mate have paid to Plaintiffs all benefits that are due under the subject insurance policy,” the defendants’ attorneys state in court papers filed Friday with Judge Jon Takasugi.
All of the plaintiffs’ claims are barred wholly or in part due to the “restrictions, exclusions, limitations and/or conditions contained in the subject policy of insurance, as well as the policy’s other provisions,” the defense lawyers further contend in their pleadings while also maintaining there are no grounds for the plaintiffs to seek punitive damages.
According to the lawsuit, Joseph and Deborah Klein contracted with Nationwide in 2023 for travel insurance that included a $500,000 benefit for the repatriation of remains to the United States. The couple and six others departed for Indonesia that same month, but Joseph died unexpectedly the next month in a remote area of the country and an essential step in his repatriation to the United States was embalming his remains and subsequently transporting him to Jakarta, the suit states.
The embalming took place and the price of the chartered flight to Indonesia was about $77,855. But Nationwide and the other entities said the cost must be divided among the surviving seven passengers, and said the insurers would only compensate for one-eighth of the flight cost, thus reducing the repatriation benefit at plaintiffs’ expense because other passengers were also on board the chartered flight, the suit states.
Nationwide and the other defendants rejected the Klein family’s appeal in December 2023 and reaffirmed their position last August, according to the suit brought March 3, which states that the decision has caused the plaintiffs mental suffering and grief.