Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co. and a set of aligned plaintiffs argue in a fresh filing that a group of Montana funeral directors took a financial hit because they relied on weak legal advice.
Millions vanished in the fallout, and the insurers now want the estate of attorney Janette Krutzfeldt Jones to shoulder its share of the blame. Maybe more than a share, depending on how the facts shake out.
The filing targets her estate through its representative, Corey Jones, and also brings in Todd S. Steadman, who acts as trustee for several Stevenson family trusts.
According to court records, Jones advised mortician Todd F. Stevenson and his relatives to buy multiple universal life policies, some financed through a third party.
That structure later blew up, the plaintiffs say, because crucial details about interest rates, collateral exposure, and loan mechanics never made it into the “loan packages” they reviewed.
The original lawsuit said Jones, Steadman, and others pushed the Stevensons toward a mix of policies from different insurers, with premium financing pitched as an efficient way to avoid tapping liquid assets.
They relied on slick illustrations, glossy projections, and, as the plaintiffs put it, advice that left out key risk factors. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. was also named in that earlier complaint, so the roster here isn’t small.
In their newest brief, Penn Mutual and the co filers hammer one point: the Stevensons’ decisions came with Jones in the room. She served as independent counsel. She helped them evaluate the policies.
She reviewed the financing packages. And she supposedly signed off on decisions that, according to our analysts, any cautious attorney would have picked apart before greenlighting.
The filing says Jones owed the family a duty of reasonable care, including competent advice and representation.
If the policies or the financing strategy didn’t suit the family’s needs, the insurers argue that gap tracks back to Jones’s legal work at Krutzfeldt & Jones. Or, phrased a bit more bluntly, if the plan failed, the architects failed.
Penn Mutual and its co filers want the court to apportion liability at trial across Jones’s estate, Steadman, and the Krutzfeldt & Jones firm. Maybe that spreads the financial impact, maybe it shifts the whole thing.
Hard to say at this point. But the filing makes one thing clear: the insurers won’t let the entire tab land on their desk without a fight.
