And Just When You Thought Insurance Companies Could Not Sink Any Lower

There comes this story. In a nutshell this is what happened. A woman went to work at a store. A man walked in. He decided that he was going to kill someone that day based on their skin color. The woman at the counter happened to be that skin color. He took out a knife and used it to kill said store clerk.

The only reason she was killed: she working that day and fit the profile of someone he wanted to kill.

Now the employer's insurance company has decided to contest the death benefits due her family (in this case, her 11 year old son). There grounds: the death was not work related.

The facts are undisputed: Taneka Talley, was on duty, at the Dollar Store; her murderer walked in and stabbed as she was doing her job, stocking the shelves. She had never had any contact with him before. The only reason she died was because she was working.

The insurance company, Specialty Risk Services, has taken the position that because the man who killed the store clerk just wanted to kill anyone who was African-American, and not in the course of a robbery, that this situation is not covered by the policy. They are saying that there denial is based on it being a "personal" matter.

Apparently Specialty Risk Services has been delaying paying the benefit now for more than 2 years. How they can make this argument with a straight face is beyond me.