Any insurer that issues payments by making “checkbooks” available to insureds should pay careful attention to a new trend of class actions.  I’ve posted a couple of times on the growing trend of class actions against life insurance companies involving the use of “checkbooks” to pay policy proceeds to beneficiaries (see my posts from May 4, 2011 and April 14, 2011.  There is a Multidistrict Litigation in the District of Massachusetts, Lucey v. Prudential Insurance Company of America, in which Judge Ponsor recently issued a decision denying a motion to dismiss (pdf).  The decision was mentioned in a recent article in Bloomberg Business Week.

This case involves life insurance policies issued to servicemembers and veterans under a special federal statute.  The statute provides for beneficiaries to be paid “either in a lump sum or in thirty-six equal monthly installments,” at the election of the insured or the beneficiaries.  The contract contained a similar requirement.  Handbooks issued by Prudential and the Veterans Administration later provided for the use of “Alliance Accounts” under which beneficiaries are provided with a checkbook from which they can draw the entire proceeds or part thereof at any time, and they earn interest. 

In denying the motion to dismiss in its entirety, Judge Ponsor found that under First Circuit precedent, “[a] lump-sum payment by check (which actually transfers the funds to the beneficiary) is simply not the same as a lump-sum payment by checkbook (which allows the insurance company to retain the funds and earn interest on them).”  (Opinion, at 9.)  The motion to dismiss was denied even on the fraud claim:

First, Plaintiffs allege that Defendant’s claim that it will satisfy the insured’s selection of the lump-sum payment option by creating an Alliance Account is not equivalent to a lump-sum payment.  Second, Plaintiffs allege that Defendant’s statement that the Alliance Account is a personal interest-bearing account is false because the account is not personal and the interest is credited at Defendant’s discretion and not by a legal instrument setting an interest rate.  These two statements, which suggest that Defendant intentionally misrepresented essential elements of the Alliance Account in order to induce beneficiaries to maintain the insurance proceeds in the accounts, are sufficient to overcome Defendant’s motion to dismiss Count 5.  (Opinion, at 16.)

I don’t have much new to say about this topic beyond my prior comments, but wanted to highlight this new development. Life insurers should pay close attention to these cases.  Property/casualty insurers that issue payments to insureds with similar “checkbooks” should also pay careful attention to these cases and review their contract terms and procedures.  How the MDL court rules on class certification will be important.

 

Tags: Prudential
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Photo of Wystan Ackerman Wystan Ackerman

I am a partner at the law firm of Robinson+Cole in Hartford, Connecticut, USA.  My contact information is on the contact page of my blog.  I really enjoy receiving questions, comments, suggestions and even criticism from readers.  So please e-mail me if you…

I am a partner at the law firm of Robinson+Cole in Hartford, Connecticut, USA.  My contact information is on the contact page of my blog.  I really enjoy receiving questions, comments, suggestions and even criticism from readers.  So please e-mail me if you have something to say.  For those looking for my detailed law firm bio, click here.  If you want a more light-hearted and hopefully more interesting summary, read on:

People often ask about my unusual first name, Wystan.  It’s pronounced WISS-ten.  It’s not Winston.  There is no “n” in the middle.  It comes from my father’s favorite poet, W.H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden.  I’ve grown to like the fact that because my name is unusual people tend to remember it better, even if they don’t pronounce it right (and there is no need for anyone to use my last name because I’m always the only Wystan).

I grew up in Deep River, Connecticut, a small town on the west side of the Connecticut River in the south central part of the state.  I’ve always had strong interests in history, politics and baseball.  My heroes growing up were Abraham Lincoln and Wade Boggs (at that time the third baseman for the Boston Red Sox).  I think it was my early fascination with Lincoln that drove me to practice law.  I went to high school at The Williams School in New London, Connecticut, where I edited the school newspaper, played baseball, and was primarily responsible for the installation of a flag pole near the school entrance (it seemed like every other school had one but until my class raised the money and bought one at my urging, Williams had no flag pole).  As a high school senior, my interest in history and politics led me to score high enough on a test of those subjects to be chosen as one of Connecticut’s two delegates to the U.S. Senate Youth Program, which further solidified my interest in law and government.  One of my mentors at Williams was of the view that there were far too many lawyers and I should find something more useful to do, but if I really had to be a lawyer there was always room for one more.  I eventually decided to be that “one more.”  I went on to Bowdoin College, where I wrote for the Bowdoin Orient and majored in government, but took a lot of math classes because I found college math interesting and challenging.  I then went to Columbia Law School, where I was lucky enough to be selected as one of the minions who spent their time fastidiously cite-checking and Blue booking hundred-plus-page articles in the Columbia Law Review.  I also interned in the chambers of then-Judge Sonia Sotomayor when she was a relatively new judge on the Second Circuit, my only connection to someone who now has one-ninth of the last word on what constitutes the law of our land.  I graduated from Columbia in 2001, then worked at Skadden Arps in Boston before returning to Connecticut and joining Robinson+Cole, one of the largest Connecticut-based law firms.  At the end of 2008, I was elected a partner at Robinson+Cole.

I’ve worked on class actions since the start of my career.  Being in the insurance capital of Hartford, we have a national insurance litigation practice and most of the class actions I’ve defended have been brought against insurance companies. I’ve also handled some involving products liability, managed care, health care, utilities, financial services, higher education and environmental issues.

My insurance class action practice usually takes me outside of Connecticut.  I’ve had the pleasure of working on cases in various federal and state courts and collaborating with great lawyers across the country.  While class actions are an increasingly large part of my practice, I don’t do exclusively class action work.  The rest of my practice involves litigating insurance coverage cases, often at the appellate level.  That also frequently takes me outside of Connecticut.  A highlight of my career thus far was working on Standard Fire Ins. Co. v. Knowles, the U.S. Supreme Court’s first Class Action Fairness Act case.  I was Counsel of Record for Standard Fire on the cert petition, and had the pleasure of working with Ted Boutrous on the merits briefing and oral argument.

I started this blog because writing is one of my favorite things to do and I enjoy following developments in class action law, writing about them and engaging in discussion with others who have an in interest in this area.  It’s a welcome break from day-to-day practice, keeps me current, broadens my network and results in some new business.

When I’m not at work, you might find me running lines or watching a musical with my teenage daughter who hopes to be a Broadway star (or taking her to voice or dance lessons) or reading a good book.

Read more about Wystan Ackerman
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