News & Analysis as of

Insurance Litigation Breach of Contract Life Insurance

Miller Nash LLP

The Initial Impact of Moody? More Confusion.

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Until recently, Oregon courts did not allow policyholders to bring claims against their insurers under Oregon’s Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act and only allowed tort-based “bad faith” claims in narrow circumstances....more

Alston & Bird

Insurance Insights for the Dog Days of August

Alston & Bird on

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Insurance Insights, a gathering of notable legal developments and trends relevant to the insurance industry. In this issue, the California Supreme Court covers COVID-19 claims, Georgia...more

Carlton Fields

Insurer Must Consider “Expectations of Future Mortality Experience” When Reassessing, Redetermining, and Changing COI Rates

Carlton Fields on

In Advance Trust & Life Escrow Services, LTA v. Protective Life Insurance Co. (Mar. 2, 2024), the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in part and reversed in part the district court’s dismissal of breach of contract...more

Carlton Fields

Expect Focus - Volume III, September 2023

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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

King & Spalding

What Does “Based On” Mean?

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In Cost of Insurance Litigation, Courts Continue to Disagree Over the Meaning of the Key Contractual Provision - If you see a movie that is “based on a true story,” how close to the story are you expecting the movie to be?...more

Carlton Fields

Annuity Litigation Roundup

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Court Emphasizes Disclosure Substance Over Form - A recent decision in Nofsinger v. Jackson National Life Insurance Co. shut down a putative class action in which the plaintiff alleged she surrendered her annuity contract...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Early Dismissal of Complaint Challenging Universal Life Credited Rates

While challenges to insurers’ exercises of discretion in setting cost of insurance rates has been the principal focus of litigation involving universal life (UL) insurance products for quite some time, a putative class action...more

Cozen O'Connor

Secondary Market Investor Files Interest Rate Class Action

Cozen O'Connor on

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

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

SDNY Rules on Class Plaintiffs' Motion for Class Certification in AXA COI Litigation

On August 13, 2020, in the putative class action challenging AXA’s COI rate increase on Athena Universal Life II (“AUL II”) policies, Judge Jesse M. Furman of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New...more

Carlton Fields

2019 Year-End Class Action Roundup

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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

Carlton Fields

Not So Fast: Court Upholds Denial of Request for Accelerated Life Insurance Payment

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The Ninth Circuit recently affirmed a summary judgment ruling in favor of Minnesota Life Insurance Co. on all claims stemming from its denial of an accelerated life insurance payment. ...more

Carlton Fields

The Risk and Reward of Life Insurance

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No Recovery for Paying Premiums in Excess of Policy Face Amount - Since we last reported on Goostree v. Liberty National Life Insurance Co. in the October 2019 issue of Expect Focus — Life, Annuity, and Retirement Solutions,...more

Carlton Fields

Class Action Roundup

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McClendon v. North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co. (M.D. Tenn. 2019) - In McClendon, the plaintiff’s mother purchased a whole life insurance policy to insure the plaintiff’s brother, and subsequently took out a loan on...more

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

State Farm Ruling Opens Door for Conversion Claims Against Insurers Who Impose Unlawful Cost of Insurance Rate Increases

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

Carlton Fields

Class Certification Denied in Universal Life “Risk Rates” Litigation

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Individualized defenses and choice-of-law issues played a key role in preventing class certification in a recent challenge to a life insurer’s discretion to adjust its “risk rates” on universal life (UL) insurance policies....more

Carlton Fields

Read Your Policy Carefully: UL Policy’s Plain Language Requires Dismissal of Putative Class Action Challenging Increased Premiums...

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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

Dickinson Wright

Sixth Circuit Allows Both Punitive Damages and Bad Faith Damages Against Insurance Company on Bad Faith Refusal to Pay

Dickinson Wright on

Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Lindenberg v. Jackson Nat’l Life Ins. Co., 912 F.3d 348 (6th Cir. 2018), ruled that a plaintiff may recover both bad faith damages and punitive damages...more

Mayer Brown

Sixth Circuit Invalidates Tennessee’s Punitive-Damages Cap and Holds That Punitive Damages Are Available Under Tennessee Law For...

Mayer Brown on

Should divided panels of federal appellate courts really be deciding state-law issues of first impression? That’s what happened last month in Lindenberg v. Jackson National Life Insurance Co. In Lindenberg, two Sixth Circuit...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Sixth Circuit Rules That Tennessee Cap on Punitive Damages Is Unconstitutional

In 2011, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam signed the Tennessee Civil Justice Act, a tort reform measure limiting monetary damages. Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-39-104. This law places a cap on punitive damages of two times the...more

Carlton Fields

The Ninth Circuit Reverses California District Court’s Ruling Vacating Arbitration Award Based on Evident Partiality

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In sum, in 2009, plaintiffs American Brokerage Network and its owner Cung Thai (collectively, “ABN”) and American General Life and Accident Insurance Company (“AGLA”), a subsidiary of American International Group, Inc....more

Cozen O'Connor

Fort Worth Court of Appeal Reverses Judgment Awarding Bad Faith Damages Against Insurer

Cozen O'Connor on

While the November 8, 2018 Court of Appeal of Texas, Fort Worth Division opinion reverses a trial court’s judgment on grounds of legal insufficiency and standing, the court’s analysis and application of current Texas bad...more

Bennett Jones LLP

Ontario Court of Appeal Certifies Class Action Against Sun Life

Bennett Jones LLP on

On September 5, 2018, the Ontario Court of Appeal released its decision in Fehr v. Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, overturning certain parts of the motion judge’s decision and certifying a class action against Sun Life...more

Carlton Fields

COI Litigation Update

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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

Carlton Fields

SDNY Ruling Narrows Claims in COI Suit

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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

Carlton Fields

CAFA’s Local Controversy Exception Requires Class Claims Against Local Defendant

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As we previously reported, in September 2017, a federal district court in Louisiana dismissed with prejudice as time-barred putative class action RICO and state racketeering claims related to alleged wrongful conduct by an...more

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