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Life, Health & Disability Law
C. Life Insurance
In the life insurance context, litigation continues over lapses of policies as well as cost of insurance class actions (though many of the big targets such as Transamerica, John Hancock, and Nationwide have already been sued and settled for large amounts). Although waning, we probably have also not seen the end of stranger-owned life insurance litigation. While many states have adopted anti-STOLI legislation, others like Florida prior to its statutory ban, have taken a more pro-investor stance (See Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Pruco Life Ins. Co., 200 So.3d 1202, 1204 (Fla. 2016)), and others have refused to apply statutory bans retroactively.
D. ERISA Retirement Plans
ERISA litigation over retirement plan investments will also likely continue to grow in 2023 and 2024 as a result of the recent economic downturn as more class actions for alleged breach of fiduciary duty will be filed over plan recordkeeping and administration fees, plan investment choices, and stock drops following the Supreme Court’s decision in Retirement Plans Comm. of IBM v. Jander, 140 S.Ct. 592 (2020) with much of this litigation centering on whether the plaintiff has suffered sufficient harm to have standing to sue.
Russell S. Buhite is a Shareholder with Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. in Seattle, WA. Contact him at: Russell.buhite@ogletree.com.
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FDCC ANNUAL FIVES 2023