Insurer Says It Paid $1 Million in Wrong Death

An insurance company has filed suit here to recover $1 million in life insurance policies, claiming the company was duped into paying off on a corpse that was misidentified in Glendale, Calif.

Farmers New World Life Insurance Co. contends in the suit filed Tuesday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court that a body identified as Melvin E. Hanson, 46, of Columbus, is that of someone else.

According to the suit, the body has been cremated. It is not identified in the suit.

Hanson and John B. Hawkins, 25, were partners in a Columbus clothing chain, Just Sweats.

The insurance firm paid off on Hanson’s policies July 7 and wants Hawkins to repay the $1 million with interest.

The insurance company won a temporary restraining order Wednesday from Judge Dale A. Crawford, which prohibits Hawkins from spending the money.

Hanson reportedly died April 16 in Glendale. Police there were called that day to the office of Dr. Richard Boggs, and shown a corpse that Boggs said was Hanson, according to court records. Boggs told police Hanson had come to his office and died of an apparent heart attack, court records say.

Police photographed and fingerprinted the body and it was taken to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office for an autopsy, court records say.

On April 29, Hawkins submitted a proof of death statement to the insurance company stating Hanson had died April 16 in Boggs’ office.

On July 7, the insurance company issued a $1 million life insurance payment to Hawkins and court records state he cashed it.

The Columbus Dispatch on Thursday quoted Glendale police spokesman Christopher Loop as saying an investigation conducted by Glendale police revealed that the corpse was not that of Hanson.

Loop, however, later told The Associated Press that the case is under investigation and that no conclusion has been reached on the identity of the body.