A Rockland County man who is suing a life insurance company is facing a competing claim from a bank that says it is the rightful beneficiary to a $10 million death benefit.
Gregory Baydiuk, of Suffern, claimed he is the sole beneficiary to his wife’s life insurance policy, in a lawsuit filed last March against Lincoln Benefit Life Insurance Co., Lincoln, Nebraska. But Wilmington Trust, of Delaware, declared in a May 16 lawsuit that it owns the policy.
Both lawsuits were filed in Rockland Supreme Court and were moved recently to U.S. District Court in White Plains.
Ludmila Mohler bought a $10 million life insurance policy from Lincoln Benefit in 2008, according to court records, and put the policy in the Mohler Trust for the benefit of her heirs.
Mohler, a former public health aide for Rockland County, died this past January. She was 94.
Baydiuk and Wilmington Trust agree that the life insurance policy has changed hands several times.
According to Baydiuk, the Mohler Trust borrowed money from Cambridge Life Settlements, of Brooklyn, to pay the insurance premiums. But the agreement contained hidden, predatory terms that triggered a default and enabled Cambridge to sell the policy to another party.
He argues that the default was fraudulent, therefore selling the policy was not legitimate.
He is asking the court to order Lincoln Benefit to pay the life insurance benefits to the Mohler Trust, and to pay at least $5 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages.
Wilmington Trust also says the policy changed hands several times, and that by August 2023 it was the sole owner and beneficiary.
The bank describes its role as a securities intermediary acting on behalf of a customer that it does not identify in the lawsuit.
A few weeks after Ludmila Mohler died, Wilmington Trust submitted the death certificate and a claim for death benefits. The policy requires the insurer to pay the claim within 60 days, according to the lawsuit, but Lincoln Benefit has failed to do so.
Instead, Lincoln Benefit allegedly advised Wilmington Trust that its legal department had suspended processing of the claim.
Wilmington Trust is demanding $10 million and is asking for a declaration that Baydiuk is not entitled to any death benefits.
Erica Davis, a spokesperson for Lincoln Benefit, said the company is “unable to comment on active litigation.”
