Philip Shue case reads like a novel

BOERNE, TEXAS   After five long years the trial of Tracy Ann Shue against USAA Life Insurance Company will finally begin on Monday, June 9, 2008 with voir dire, the jury selection process. It is expected that opening arguments will commence on Tuesday, June 10. If all goes as planned, both sides agree that the trial could last up to two months. A jury pool of 72 was chosen from 400 possible candidates in March of this year.

According to the lawsuit, on the morning of April 16, 2003 “Col. Philip Shue began this day like many others: he woke just before 5:00 am and shared coffee with his wife Tracy. On this morning, however, the Shues were particularly excited because the night before they had confirmed a contract on a beautiful new lakefront home in the South Lake, Alabama, area. Philip was retiring from the United States Air Force and had accepted a prestigious civilian medical fellowship in Montgomery.”

“After finishing his coffee and before he left, Philip told Tracy that he would be home early to mow the yard and work on the pool . . . Just before 6:00 [am], Philip kissed Tracy goodbye and left for work.”

Approximately two and a half hours later, Col. Philip Shue was found dead in his Mercury Topaz with massive head trauma. Witnesses observed Shue’s car headed west toward Boerne and weaving erratically on the interstate just moments before it careened off the highway, jumped the access road, and crashed into a grove of trees.
 
According to the Shue’s fourth amended petition, “A perfunctory visual inspection showed that this was anything but a routine accident. Philip’s wrists and ankles had been bound with duct tape. His chest was cut open vertically along the sternum and his left pinky finger had been severed at the first knuckle. Underneath his military fatigues, Philip’s nipples and areolas had been cut out, leaving two open wounds in their place. These mutilations were not caused by the car crash but were imposed some time during the previous two hours. The excised finger and nipples have never been found. Also missing and never found were Philip’s wallet and military dog tags.”

The suit further alleges that less than an hour after the accident, Kendall County Justice of the Peace Nancy White contaminated the scene when she “handled the corpse with her bare hands,” and declared the death of Col. Philip Shue a “fatal accident.” White later ruled that Col. Shue’s death was a suicide.

The Threats

Investigators working the case quickly learned that Col. Shue had received death threats in the form of letters that alleged that Col. Shue’s ex-wife, Nancy Shue Timpson, was plotting to kill him in order to collect a million dollars from two life insurance policies that she carried on her ex-husband’s life.

Under the terms of their divorce in June of 1992, Philip Shue paid monthly alimony to Nancy Shue and agreed that she “would maintain $1,000,000.00 in life insurance on Col. Shue to secure the alimony payment.”

In 1999, Col. Philip Shue received the first of two death threats. The anonymous letter stated that Nancy Shue Timpson and her new husband, Don Timpson, wanted the Colonel dead so they could collect on his life insurance policies.
 
Frightened, Col. Shue reported the threatening letter to his commanding officer and wrote to USAA Life Insurance Company in an attempt to have the life insurance policy cancelled.
 
In a September 23, 1999 letter, USAA responded by stating that they could only cancel the policy upon the direction of its owner and further stated that “we are unable to address your concerns directly” and advised Col. Shue to take his fears to the authorities. Following military protocol, Shue reported the threat to millitary officials.

About one year later, Col. Shue received a second anonymous letter stating that “the plan is now delayed, but not cancelled.” Col. Shue wrote USAA another letter stating that his life continued to be in danger.

The Motive
 
Tracy Shue believes that her husband’s ex-wife, Nancy Shue Timpson, played a role in her spouse’s alleged murder and that the motive was money.

Shue’s lawsuit claims that Timpson was in dire financial straits. The premiums on the life insurance policies that the ex-wife held on her former husband had risen to over $12,000.00 per year. In July of 2000, Timpson borrowed over $45,000.00 with an eight per cent interest rate on a Northwestern Life Insurance Policy, also held on her ex-husband’s life. The petition also alleges that Timpson was in “deep credit card debt—more than $32,000.00 as of September 2002—just months before Col. Shue’s death.”
   
During the time period of 1997-2003, Timpson was training for a new career in “sexology” and “forensic sexology.” Shue’s lawsuit claims that Timpson “spent thousands of dollars that she apparently did not have attending seminars.”

Timpson also studied under the tutelage of Dr. William Granzig, a sexologist who wrote the preface of a book entitled "Screw the Roses, Give Me the Thorns: The Romance and Sexual Sorcery of Sadomasochism," a how-to guide for bondage and sadomasochism.

Colonel Philip Shue had been bound and ritualistically tortured before he died of massive head injuries in his automobile crash.

The law suit further alleges that “Phillip was one of the few people aware of Nancy’s financial plight and her resultant motive for murder.” In February of 2000, the Colonel wrote to his ex-wife accusing her of plotting his murder.

After Col. Shue’s death, his ex-wife did not cooperate with investigators. In recent legal proceedings, Timpson invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to answer questions about her involvement in Col. Shue’s death.

The Duty

Tracy Shue states in her law suit that “USAA had a duty to do something to help Col. Shue, regardless of whether it believed it could or should cancel the policy.” Shue further states that USAA was negligent in failing to investigate the appropriateness of issuing the policy in the first place.
 
Second, “USAA failed to conduct a reasonable investigation after receiving those notices, including . . . contacting local law enforcement authorities, state insurance fraud investigators, and civil authorities  . . . .“

According to the Texas Insurance Code all insurance companies are required to develop an anti-fraud plan. Shue’s law suit claims that USAA had no plan and, therefore, when it was notified that Nancy Shue was planning to commit insurance fraud by murdering her ex-husband, USAA failed to investigate and report the alleged fraud.

USAA’s Response

On May 8, 2008, USAA filed a motion for summary judgment which was not granted. Their contention is that under Texas law USAA had only one obligation—to pay the proceeds of the life insurance policy to its beneficiary, Nancy Shue Timpson. The policy was purchased two years prior to Philip and Nancy Shue’s divorce and ownership of the policy was awarded to Nancy Shue in the divorce settlement for as long as she paid the premiums.

USAA also alleges that it had no duty to investigate the threats against Philip Shue’s life. An insurance company “does not generally have a legal duty to protect others from the criminal acts of a third person or to come to the aid of another in distress.”

As far as the Texas Insurance Commission’s rule that insurance companies maintain a fraud investigative unit, USAA alleges that no penalties exist for not having such anti-fraud divisions.

And, finally, USAA contends that there is a two year statute of limitations in this case. “Each of the claims accrued more than two years before suit was filed on July 3, 2003 and is therefore barred by limitations.”

It should be noted that Tracy Shue also held a life insurance policy on her husband and both she and Col. Shue’s ex-wife, Nancy Shue, were paid the proceeds of these policies upon Col. Shue’s death.

Paul Berry, a Public Communications spokesman for USAA, had this to say about the upcoming trial:

“Our condolences are with Mrs. Shue on the loss of her husband. As a result of Col. Shue’s death, USAA paid the proceeds from his life insurance policy and handled this claim appropriately.

Col Shue’s death was exhaustively investigated by the Kendall County Sherriff, Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Rangers, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the Bexar County Medical Examiner, and others.  All concluded that his death was a suicide. Additionally, three Kendall County grand juries investigated Col. Shue’s death ultimately finding that there was no criminal activity.
   
Tragic as Col. Shue’s death was, to contend, as Mrs. Shue has, that USAA had any role in or bears any responsibility for his death is completely unfounded.”

Jason Davis, lead attorney for Tracy Shue stated, “We have been looking forward to the conclusion of this matter. The evidence will do the talking.”