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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — The domestic partner of a former Ohio college dean says an insurance company is wrongly withholding death benefits.
Philip Ginnetti, former dean at Youngstown State University, and Albert Celec were domestic partners when Ginnetti died in 2012.
A Pennsylvania lawsuit says Ginnetti left for Edinboro University in 2010, which recognized their domestic partnership and provided Ginnetti with life insurance.
The Youngstown Vindicator reports (http://bit.ly/1ReXzVx ) Celec's attorney says the insurance company Cigna is refusing to pay his client now since no beneficiary was listed. The policy states that death benefits are to go to the first surviving class.
The insurer says Celec does not meet the definition of spouse since same-sex marriage was illegal in Ohio and Pennsylvania when Ginnetti died.
A Cigna spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit.
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Information from: The Vindicator, http://www.vindy.com
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