Facts

Plaintiffs Larry Clapp, Mary Jones, Daryl McCleary, and Robin McGuire filed a class action lawsuit against Defendants Accordia Life Annuity Company and Alliance-One Services, Incorporated, for conversion-related issues that were the result of moving the administration of new and existing insurance policies to a new electronic system.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS: Plaintiffs contended in 2013, about a half a million insurance policies were purchased by Accordia, and Accordia hired Defendant Alliance-One to administer and service the policies. Plaintiff contended in 2015, Defendant Alliance-One attempted to transfer the policies from one administrative system to another, known as the conversion process, but soon problems quickly arose. Specifically, Plaintiffs contended as a result of the conversion process related issues, many policies were placed on restricted status, which left the policy essentially frozen and no transactions could be completed for years. Further Plaintiffs contended during the conversion period, Defendants stopped automatically withdrawing or accepting premium payments, which caused lapsed policies and an inability to provide policyholders with information related to the statuses of their policies.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS: Defendants denied Plaintiffs' contentions.

Result

The parties agreed to settle for refunds of bank overdraft fees directly caused by disruptions or errors in policy billing, adjustments for incorrect payments or charges, partial or full waivers of any other payments or charges due on the covered policy, refunds to implement nonforfeiture status reversals, and other forms of relief.

Other Information

JUDGE: Hon. Colin S. Bruce