After years of pursuing life insurers with Cost of Insurance (COI) class actions, we are now seeing a new life insurance secondary market investor strategy — suing life insurers on a class action basis for not paying enough...more
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York recently issued a decision denying class certification to sub-classes in a cost of insurance (“COI”) class action based upon the insurer’s defense that...more
The first half of 2020 saw an uptick in the filing of class action lawsuits against life insurance companies. Life insurance companies have continued to be the target of putative class actions in California challenging...more
On August 19, 2019 a federal judge in the Northern District of California denied State Farm Life Insurance Company’s (State Farm) motion for summary judgment on Plaintiff Elizabeth A. Bally’s claims for conversion and breach...more
The Southern District of Indiana recently dismissed a putative class action alleging that the defendant-insurer improperly inflated premiums and cost of insurance (COI) rates on universal life policies....more
New York Pushes Mutual Fund Active Share Disclosure - New York’s Attorney General issued a report on its recent investigation of fees charged by actively managed equity mutual funds and a metric known as “Active Share.”...more
Life insurers that defend challenges to their exercises of discretion to adjust cost of insurance (COI) rates on universal life insurance policies continue to seek opportunities to narrow the scope of the claims through early...more
EXPECTFOCUS® is a quarterly review of developments in the insurance and financial services industry, provided on a complimentary basis to clients and friends of Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, P.A. ...more
In EFG Bank AG, Cayman Branch v. AXA and The Duffy 2004 LLC v. AXA, in a February 14 ruling, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company earned a sweet victory on its motion for partial dismissal of the complaints in two...more
Suits challenging insurers’ cost of insurance (COI) rate increases continue to generate much activity. In recent months, this activity has included transfers, consolidations, several actions that are inching closer to...more
In July, in Hancock v. Americo Financial Life & Annuity Co., Americo achieved a total victory on its motion to dismiss a putative class action in the Eastern District of North Carolina that challenged its premium and COI...more
Starting in 2015 and continuing into 2016, a number of insurance carriers raised the cost of insurance ("COI") rates on universal life insurance policies, resulting in dramatic increases to the premiums required to keep the...more
As illustrated by the two examples here, recent decisions on preliminary motions seeking to dispose of or narrow the scope of claims challenging COI rate determinations suggest the industry may be enmeshed in litigation for...more
Historically, increases to cost of insurance (COI) rates on universal life (UL) policies have been met with legal challenges from policyholders, and sometimes, regulatory opposition spurred by policyholder complaints. The...more
Plaintiffs' lawyers have been challenging cost-of-insurance (COI) charges for years, with mixed results. The following outline reviews the most recent flurry of cases. ...more
WilmerHale Partner Charles Platt, a leading commercial litigator who is recognized nationally for his work defending financial services and insurance companies, periodically drafts legal news alerts for clients about the life...more
The complaint against Banner Life combines the "captive reinsurance" class action claims brought last year with the cost-of-insurance (COI) class action claims that are now popping up. Instead of standing on their own,...more
Plaintiffs lawyers have been challenging cost of insurance (COI) charges for years, with mixed success. The recent decision by the Indiana Court of Appeals, titled Lincoln National Ins. Co. v. Bezich, is the latest in this...more
In a class action challenging a cost of insurance (COI) rate increase, a New York federal district court has stated that an insurer may only consider factors specifically enumerated in the policy when raising COI rates on a...more
In December, insurers battling challenges to their exercises of discretion in setting non-guaranteed elements in universal life policies received a boost when the Seventh Circuit, via companion opinions, affirmed the...more
In the first federal appellate decisions addressing cost of insurance (COI) charges in life insurance policies, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals handed two victories to insurers in opinions issued December 13, 2013. In...more
Litigation continues in various cases challenging cost of insurance rates (COI) in life insurance policies, and January 2013 saw courts issue decisions going both ways on insurer discretion to set and modify COI rates. A...more