The degree of attenuation between the amount paid out under a life insurance policy and the potentially limitless value of life presents another counter argument to allowing life insurance subrogation in Virginia. One of the conditions precedent in allowing a subrogation action is the recompense of the insured. However, how can an insurance company put a value on life? It can be credibly argued that the courts place a value on life all the time in the form of wrongful death settlements and verdicts. Furthermore, an insurance company’s payment of the pre-determined amount under the policy should be viewed as “making whole” the insured.
This may be one of the trickiest needles to thread in the argument for allowing life insurance subrogation in Virginia. Many people would be uncomfortable positing the payment of a term-life insurance policy as the value of the insured’s life.
