News & Analysis as of

Class Action Annuities

A class action is a type of legal action where a representative individual or group of individuals can bring a claim on behalf of a larger group or class who share a common legal interest.
The Wagner Law Group

Pension Risk Transfers and the Continuing Concern About Buying a Pig in a Poke

The Wagner Law Group on

Pension risk transfers (“PRTs”) continue to make the news. And well they should. Last year alone, over $100 billion in liabilities were transferred from defined benefit pension plans to insurance companies. And the trend...more

Bricker Graydon LLP

Pension Risk Transfer Considerations and Recent Litigation - A Case of Imprudent “Passing the Buck” or Sound Risk Management?

Bricker Graydon LLP on

Over the last several years, numerous large pension plan sponsors have transferred billions of dollars in financial risk related to their pension plan benefit obligations to insurance companies through the purchase of group...more

Carlton Fields

Expect Focus - Volume III, September 2023

Carlton Fields on

Regulators Hit Jackpot: Off-Channel Communications - Several years before announcing the first “off-channel” communications enforcement action, the SEC and FINRA cautioned broker-dealers and investment advisers about...more

Carlton Fields

SLUSA Dismissal Affirmed in Variable Annuity Class Action: Eleventh Circuit Looks Behind Artful Pleading

Carlton Fields on

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed the dismissal of a putative class action against a brokerage firm and its parent company, holding that the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act (SLUSA) barred the...more

Carlton Fields

Must ERISA Actuarial Equivalence Be “Reasonable”?

Carlton Fields on

The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts recently diverged from other decisions interpreting the term “actuarial equivalent” in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) class action, finding that...more

Carlton Fields

2019 Year-End Class Action Roundup

Carlton Fields on

Life insurers bid farewell to a fairly moderate year of class action litigation. Although several class actions were filed against life insurers in the last quarter of 2019, the filings were reflective of the litigation...more

Laner Muchin, Ltd.

Pension Plan Sponsors Should Be Mindful Of A New Wave Of Class Action Lawsuits

Laner Muchin, Ltd. on

In December 2018, class action lawsuits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) were filed against several large single-employer defined benefit plans.  The suits focus on the calculation of joint and...more

Carlton Fields

Louisiana Appeals Court Affirms Class Certification in Lingering Litigation Against Department of Insurance

Carlton Fields on

A Louisiana appeals court recently affirmed class certification in consolidated lawsuits, pending since 1991, against Louisiana’s Department of Insurance, other related state entities, and the state’s excess insurance...more

Carlton Fields

Expect Focus - Volume II, June 2018

Carlton Fields on

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

Carlton Fields

Third Time Is the Charm: Class Certified in DMF-Related Shareholder Suit

Carlton Fields on

In City of Westland Police & Fire Retirement System v. MetLife, the plaintiffs allege that the insurer overstated its earnings because it did not hold sufficient reserves for death benefit claims on group life insurance...more

Carlton Fields

Dismissal of Individual Claims Cap Insurer’s Winning Streak in Action Challenging FIA Product Features

Carlton Fields on

In May, the Southern District of California handed ING a win in a case involving allegations that the company targeted seniors with annuities that hid an embedded derivative structure that made them worth less than promised....more

Carlton Fields

The DOL Fiduciary Rule: Charting a Course, Avoiding Collisions & Potential Litigation Q&A #2 - Q&As on Annuity Sales Practices,...

Carlton Fields on

Last month, we wrote about potential litigation issues under the “revised temporary” DOL Rule involving the offer and sale of annuities in the IRA market. This paper continues that discussion. I emphasize to the reader that...more

Carlton Fields

Summary Judgment for Insurer in Annuity Sales Practices Action

Carlton Fields on

On March 31, in Chambers v. N. American Co. for Life & Health Ins., an action alleging RICO violations and other claims in the sales of deferred annuities to seniors, the Southern District of Iowa granted the insurer’s motion...more

Allen Matkins

Court Rules Fixed Income Annuity Is Not A Security Under The CSL

Allen Matkins on

Because annuity contracts involve the payment of money in the expectation of future payments, one might conclude that they are securities within the meaning of the California Corporate Securities Law of 1968. Evidently, that...more

Carlton Fields

What’s Your Game Plan? Offensive or Defensive: Playing to Your Strengths [Expect Focus – October 2016]

Carlton Fields on

- AXA Prevails at First Post-Jones v. Harris Excessive Fee Trial - Potential Secondary Effects of Regulatory Examinations: Evidentiary Issues and Preclusion in Parallel Litigation - On The Horizon: Global...more

Carlton Fields

Recent Insurer Victories in Indexed Annuity Class Actions

Carlton Fields on

Recent federal court decisions effectively terminated two class action lawsuits challenging indexed annuity sales, seemingly ending an extended wave of class litigation in the federal courts against multiple insurers...more

Carlton Fields

Class Certified in Unique Fixed Indexed Annuity Case

Carlton Fields on

The creative theories of liability and damages on display in the recent certification of multiple classes suggest that the long run of annuity class actions is not over yet. Plaintiff in Abbit v. ING USA Annuity and Life...more

WilmerHale

Life and Annuity Series: Significant Litigation Risks

WilmerHale on

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

WilmerHale

Life and Annuity Series: Stable Value Funds

WilmerHale on

Class action plaintiffs have long claimed that insurance companies may become ERISA fiduciaries when offering variable annuity products and funds to 401(k) plans. The Colorado federal court decision in Teets v. Great...more

WilmerHale

Life and Annuity Series: Captive Reinsurance Class Actions

WilmerHale on

There have been several new class actions filed recently challenging “shadow insurance” transactions between life insurance companies and their “captive reinsurers.” Three of those class actions are in federal court in New...more

WilmerHale

Life and Annuity Series: Excessive Fees—Different Theory

WilmerHale on

A recent decision on "excessive fees," titled Santomenno v. Transamerica Life (C.D. Cal.), supports an even broader theory of ERISA liability than the "sub-advisor" claims I have previously reviewed, but it restricts that...more

WilmerHale

Life and Annuity Series: Annuity Cases—Good 9th Circuit Decision

WilmerHale on

The August 2015 decision from the 9th Circuit, titled Eller v. Equitrust Life Ins. Co, provides helpful precedent for the defense of annuity sales practice cases. Plaintiff Eller brought a RICO class action alleging,...more

Carlton Fields

$84 Million Settlement in Northwestern Mutual Annuity Class Case

Carlton Fields on

March 26 marked the beginning of the end for the storied 14-year litigation concerning Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Pre-MN annuities when the Eastern District of Wisconsin granted preliminary approval of a proposed...more

Carlton Fields

A Tale of Two Annuities: Exchange of Variable for Fixed Annuity Integral in SLUSA Dismissal

Carlton Fields on

After attending an annuity seminar, Robert and Diane Ruud exchanged their variable annuity for a fixed annuity sold by PHL Variable. According to the Ruuds, seminar provider John Friendshuh represented the fixed annuity as...more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

Ninth Circuit Rejects Challenge to Bonus Annuity

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed summary judgment for the insurer in a putative RICO class action relating to a bonus indexed annuity. Rejecting the plaintiff’s claims, the court held that the...more

26 Results
 / 
View per page
Page: of 2

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
- hide
- hide