It will be nice to know my name, won't it?
"John Hancock faces lawsuits on life insurance payouts" by Todd Wallack | Globe Staff, March 15, 2013
John Hancock Financial Services Inc., which recently settled government allegations that it didn’t work hard enough to pay life insurance benefits, now faces a potential class action in Boston making similar charges.
What did they do, keep the money?
The lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges that the Boston insurer routinely consulted the Social Security Administration’s master death list to check whether annuity holders had died so it could halt the payments immediately. But John Hancock failed to routinely use the same database to check if life insurance policy holders had died so the company could promptly pay beneficiaries.
The AmeriKan business model in action.
In other words, the suit claimed, John Hancock and its subsidiaries used the data “solely for their own advantage.”
Regulators in several states have already charged John Hancock and many other life insurers of similar practices.
John Hancock, the nation’s seventh largest life insurer, agreed to settle the allegations with the states in November in exchange for $13.3 million and a promise to perform more thorough searches in the future. The settlement was initially reached with six states (California, Illinois, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Michigan), but nearly all, including Massachusetts, have since signed on. New York and Minnesota are the only states that have not joined the settlement.
Several other insurers, including AIG, MetLife, and Prudential, have reached similar settlements with states. MetLife, for instance, agreed to pay $478 million in a deal with 34 states, including Massachusetts.
Oh, it was ALL the BIG INSURERS, 'eh?
Gee, and their television commercials are always so good, too.
The class action is an indication that that government settlements won’t necessarily end the legal problems for insurers. The Boston lawsuit was filed about a month ago by Richard Feingold, who lives in Illinois.
Feingold’s mother died in 2006, but Feingold didn’t know anything about the life insurance, which was purchased in 1945, according to the lawsuit. Feingold first learned he might be owed money four years later....
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As promised -- Rocker
