DOL settlement with Unum Life; Four insurers sue Norfolk Southern: Legal news

July 10, 2024 4:00 PM

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DOL settles with Unum Life Insurance

The Department of Labor announced a settlement with Unum Life Insurance Co. of America. It requires the insurer to change its proof of good health requirement or proof of insurability in job-based life insurance plans. The Employee Benefits Security Administration investigated the life insurance plans covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and found Unum Life accepted premiums without verifying if participants were insurable and then denied benefit claims after a plan participant died.

Regional Solicitor in Boston, Maia Fisher said in a statement: "The U.S. Department of Labor will take appropriate action against any insurance company that collects regular premium payments from plan participants and later tries to wrongfully deny benefits based on technicalities like 'insurability' after the participant passes away."

Unum Life notified DOL that it will re-process the claims the company denied based on lack of evidence of insurability from January 2018 present. This action is similar to agreements reached with Prudential Insurance in April 2023, United of Omaha Life Insurance in September 2023 and Lincoln National Life Insurance in May.

Insurers sue Norfolk Southern

Four insurers filed a subrogation lawsuit against Norfolk Southern alleging the company failed to properly maintain, service and inspect its trains and cars. Erie Insurance, Erie Insurance Exchange, Homesite Insurance and American Family Insurance are seeking to recover the claims they paid related to a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio in February 2023. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

Progressive settles lawsuit

Progressive Insurance agreed to pay $48 million to settle a class action lawsuit, Volino v. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company. The settlement was filed in federal court in Manhattan and approved by the U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield. It alleged the insurer used third-party software to undervalue total-loss vehicles, according to Reuters.