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This settlement is closed!
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Genworth Life Insurance Company has agreed to pay up to $24.5 million to end a class action lawsuit alleging the company withheld information about rate increases from long-term care policyholders.
Class Members who can benefit from the settlement include those who purchased life insurance Genworth sold and then substantially increased premiums on starting approximately 2012. A list of policies included is available on the settlement website.
A group of policyholders lodged the class action lawsuit against Genworth Life Insurance Company after allegedly experiencing such premium increases.
They claimed that the disclosures of material information regarding life insurance Genworth sold to them and others was insufficient and the premium increases were unexpected.
“This case does not challenge Genworth’s right to increase these premiums, or the need for premium increases given changes in certain of Genworth’s actuarial assumptions. Nor does this case ask the Court to reconstitute any of the premium rates or otherwise substitute its judgment for that of any insurance regulator in approving the increased rates,” stated the complaint.
“Rather, this case seeks to remedy the harm caused to Plaintiffs and the Class from Genworth’s partial disclosures of material information when communicating the premium increases, and the omission of material information necessary to make those partial disclosures adequate.”
The plaintiffs said that they each purchased life insurance Genworth sold to help cover high long-term care costs. The policies were meant to help with expenses related to assisted living facilities and skilled care that are not covered by health insurance or federal medical programs.
According to the class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs and Class Members compared the premium rates to coverage options to determine whether the plan would be affordable.
As a part of these long-term care plans, policyholders commit to paying years of premiums; however, the plaintiffs say that they and other Class Members were not given sufficient information about how these premiums would increase over the years.
As a result, they say that they paid years of premiums, but ended up walking away with nothing as the payments became too expensive and policyholders let their insurance lapse.
“Without this material information, Plaintiffs and the Class could not make informed decisions in response to the premium increases and ultimately made policy option renewal elections they never would have made had the Company adequately disclosed the staggering scope and magnitude of its internal rate increase action plans in the first place,” the Genworth Life Insurance Company lawsuit claimed.
The class action lawsuit alleged that Genworth Life Insurance Company advertised that premium increases on its long-term care plans would be non-existent or minimal. As a result, many policyholders agreed to purchase a plan and paid premiums for many years, sometimes a decade.
According to the complaint, cracks in Genworth’s financial stability began to show in 2012 when the company announced that it was experiencing a shortfall in the reserves it had to cover its long-term policyholders when they needed to use the insurance. As result, said the plaintiffs, the company hit policyholders with massive premium increases ranging from 44 to 66 percent.
“None of the details of this massive rate increase plan, however, were shared with policy holders,” alleged the complaint.
For its part, Genworth admits no liability, but has agreed to pay policyholders varying sums as a part of a settlement to end the class action lawsuit.
Under the terms of the settlement, Class Members may be entitled to either a $100 credit toward future premium payments, if they are still paying on the policy, or a one-time $100 addition to their non-forfeiture option benefit pool.
Additionally, the company has agreed to issue a special election letter disclosing information about future rate increases and giving Class Members the right to maintain their current benefit level at the rate they currently pay or selecting a “reduced paid-up benefit option” or reduced benefit. The special election letter must be returned to the company within 90 days of receipt.
Class Members will be automatically entered into the class action settlement. The deadline for Class Members to exclude themselves or object is June 13, 2020. The final hearing is scheduled for July 10, 2020.
Who’s Eligible
Class Members include “Policyholders of Class Policies excluding: (1) those Policyholders of Class Policies whose policies went into Non-Forfeiture Status prior to January 1, 2014; (2) those Policyholders of Class Policies that entered a Fully Paid-Up Status at any time up to the date the Class Notice is mailed; (3) any Policyholder whose Class Policy is lapsed and is outside any period Genworth allows for the Class Policy to be automatically reinstated with payment of past due premium, or whose Class Policy has otherwise terminated, as of the date of the Class Notice; or any Policyholder whose Class Policy is lapsed and is outside any period Genworth allows for the Class Policy to be automatically reinstated with payment of past due premium or has otherwise terminated, as of the date the Special Election Letter would otherwise be mailed to the Policyholder; (4) Genworth’s current officers, directors, and employees as of the date Class Notice is mailed; and (5) Judge Robert E. Payne and his immediate family and staff.”
Additional definitions and a list of policies covered by the settlement are available on the settlement website.
Potential Award
$100 credit to future premium payments or added to Class Members’ non-forfeiture option benefit pool.
Class Members may also opt to reduced premiums in the future or reduced benefits by responding to a special election letter within 90 days of receipt.
Proof of Purchase
No proof required. Class Members will be automatically entered into the settlement.
Claim Form
There is no claim form for this settlement. Class Members can find out more about this settlement by clicking here.
Exclusion/Objection Deadline
6/13/2020
Case Name
Jerome Skochin, et al. v. Genworth Life Insurance Company, et al., Case No. 3:19-cv-00049-REP, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
Final Hearing
7/10/2020
Settlement Website
Claims Administrator
Skochin v. Genworth Settlement Administrator
c/o Epiq Global
P.O. Box 4230
Portland, OR 97208-4230
admin@LongTermCareInsuranceSettlement.com
1 (833) 991-1532
Class Counsel
Brian D. Penny
GOLDMAN SCARLATO & PENNY PC
Stuart A. Davidson
ROBBINS GELLER RUDMAN & DOWD LLP
Jonathan M. Petty
PHELAN PETTY PLC
Glen L. Abramson
BERGER MONTAGUE PC
Defense Counsel
Reid Ashinoff
DENTONS US LLP
Brian Pumphrey
MCGUIREWOODS LLP
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59 thoughts onGenworth Life Insurance Company Class Action Settlement
Sorry to post so late, 7037C Is a Calif partnership policy worth retaining and hopefully you made that decison. .
On a side note you are likely a Dodger fan and I was too until 1957 when I had my heart broken at age 15. So i did not go the to game last nite here in Atlanta . If you want to talk baseball my cell phome is 413-262-6697
We purchased the GE long term care policy 19 years ago. Premiums with age has increased to the point that we agreed to cap the coverage and premium in 2020. Comfort with almost half million coverage. NOW only a small amount of coverage. If a new lawsuit is being made to get all our money back…we may want to join. Furious!
Current Lawsuit now in progress is HALCOM vs Genworth 3:21-cv-00019 if your policy is form # 7000 to 7034.
Then you will be contacted soon.
Wally – My wife and I are Form 7037C and have been paying since 2004. We are in California. We have to make a decision by Oct 16 and have no financial advisor to contact. We too were represented that the younger we purchased the rates would stay the same…so we have been paying for 18 years.
It looks like we are not under HALCOM vs Genworth? Why not? If we choose one of these settlement options, do we waive our rights for any other future class action lawsuit as these options are ridiculous.
Please contact me. We have been paying for 2 LTC policies for 30 years. Please help.
We also started with GE who unloaded it to Genworth. We kept paying the successive increases and joined the class action lawsuit. The settlement stinks. With no family to care for us this policy made sense. It also would have protected us from other inflationary cost payments coming from savings. The recent court settlement allows Genworth to keep raising unbelievable rates or deflates an alternative policy acceptance to chintzy amounts, and or shortened terms of coverage. It had been lifetime. That was a major consideration in the initial higher than other company cost premiums.
If correct, if you need to use part of coverage now they eliminate your premium requirement during the period of use. If you and your Dr. think you need some assistance now, you might not delay in making a claim. They can contest it, but doing nothing when you should act will surely get you nothing. If we live long enough we’ll all need the help that comes with aging. Who knew the government was sitting on their ass watching the more vulnerable get ripped off again by those who supposedly had all the facts and figures and would act in a way that assured the expectations they presented us.
I have a policy Form 7037C…..I recd a letter giving the same three options…make a decision by 8/16/21 or get stuck with rate increase. BUT~if I wait and the settlement is only $100…that’s not worth it. How can I tell what the approximate payout for this Policy Form 7037C will be?
We live in NY. We too purchased a premium lifetime policy at a very reasonable rate. This policy was part of a partnership agreement with the State of NY. When premiums increased, we never heard from the State concerning their position on these increases. We began paying approx $2,600 annually for about 10 years and then the premiums began to increase where our last payment, after agreeing to reduced benefits was approx $6,000 for both policies. After receiving the next notice for an increase in premiums, we forfeited our policies. We were each given a $24,000 policy that can be withdrawn at a rate of $147 per day until the policy is spent down to 0. With the settlement, we have a choice of doubling our policies value to $48,000 or keep it the same and receive a $1,000 settlement. I wonder why the State of NY has disappeared. We are going to double our coverage, but I am sure at some point Genworth will be bankrupt.
Current Lawsuit now in progress is HALCOM vs Genworth 3:21-cv-00019 if your policy is form # 7000 to 7034.
Then you will be contacted soon.
Walter I agree with you, can you please give me a call thank you !
Chris Kunzi 949-235-4556
Walter, where can we find more information to determine if we are part of the class action settlement and how this may affect us? We were just notified of the need to choose between several unattractive options and I want to know how our decision would impact our rights. Thanks !
My mother has paid in +$405,000. What can I do to help her recoup at least a portion of this?
4/6/2021: I see the Skochin vs Genworth class action suit is now closed. Is there a new class action suit that I can join? My claim is similar to the others. I live in California and have paid over $60k for LTC, thus far. Now Genworth can’t afford to pay “unlimited lifetime” benefits as promised. I received a letter from these crooks giving me 3 settlement options (before 5/21/21) to choose. Either drastically reducing my benefits with more rate increases or increasing my costs by 561.180% !!!
Surely the state of California has not approved this!
Current Lawsuit now in progress is HALCOM vs Genworth 3:21-cv-00019 if your policy is form # 7000 to 7034.
Then you will be contacted soon.
Hello, Our policy UDG4437200 complaints sound like others on this thread. We were given to expect no increases on a policy started in 2003, and are now unable to keep up with the regular yearly increases. We are considering going for the contingency non-forfeiture route starting immediately, but want to be sure we will not lose out on any settlement that might be forthcoming. We would appreciated any insight you may have! Thank you!
Please let us know what you have learned. We have to decide between reduced benefits and contingency non-forfeiture. $100 payment is a joke
My wife and I have had our long term care policies ( UCG 0841046 and 47 ) for well over 10 years starting with General Electric and ending with Genworth. Our premiums have sky rocketed to an anticipated 7800 if I don’t eliminate unlimited benefits. We purchased our policies in the State of Illinois. I called the Illinois Department of Insurance July of 2020 and if it had approved this increase and they stated they had. I am far from being an expert in this business but I did google Genworth and am shocked in regard to its leadership. I need help!!!!!
Hello, Our policy UDG4437200 complaints sound like others on this thread. We were given to expect no increases on a policy started in 2003, and are now unable to keep up with the regular yearly increases. We are considering going for the contingency non-forfeiture route starting immediately, but want to be sure we will not lose out on any settlement that might be forthcoming. We would appreciated any insight you may have! Thank you!
I am so confused. My policy started in 2003 and is a udg number also. I received a letter offering me 3 options. What is the contingency nonforfeiture route?
One option is to keep current policy but they propose increases of 372.270%.
Option 1 is an enhanced reduced paid up benefit, option 2 is basic paid up benefit plus cash payment.
I have till july 3, 2021 to let them know my decision.
If i keep my current policy the increase to premium is 40%.
From what I’ve read these options are final. Am i correct?