Insurer Payment Practices Task Force

State insurance authorities and departments of revenue are continuing and expanding their review of insurers' benefit payment practices. This began with a review of the use of retained asset accounts ("RAAs") and has now expanded to unclaimed death benefits. California, Florida, and New York are among the states that are seeking information about insurer's benefit payment practices.

For the past 10 years, our Firm has actively counseled and defended clients in connection with issues related to benefit payments as well as participating in industry activities addressing these topics. Our experience includes advising on compliance with state unclaimed property law requirements, such as:

• General unclaimed property compliance requirements, including voluntary self‑audit requirements and reporting when entities have not been compliant with state unclaimed property requirements.
• Unclaimed property compliance requirements with regard to "unusual" policy benefits (e.g., supplemental death benefits under disability policies, etc.).
• Structuring of class action settlements to exempt unclaimed settlement proceeds from potential escheat as unclaimed property.

With respect to RAAs in particular, Jorden Burt has addressed a broad range of matters, including:

• Analysis of the permissibility of RAAs for death benefits under the laws of every state.
• Analysis of the permissibility of RAAs for other policy benefits (e.g., surrender proceeds, annuity payments, etc.) under the laws of specific states.
• Review of policy language, claim forms, and RAA marketing materials.
• Counseling on RAA best practices and compliance issues under state insurance laws, federal securities laws, and ERISA (including but not limited to whether ERISA preempts state unclaimed property laws with respect to unclaimed ERISA plan benefits).

The recent developments reflect the increasingly contentious nature of regulatory scrutiny. Moreover, based on the types of recent allegations being made by the regulators, this is also an area with great potential for parallel regulatory and civil proceedings. Because the plaintiffs' bar has begun to work with state regulators, it is even more important to approach these investigations and examinations with the view of possible future litigation. Jorden Burt's regulatory and litigation attorneys regularly represent life insurers in responding to regulatory investigations, market conduct examinations, and enforcement proceedings, including but not limited to multistate insurance department and multistate attorney general investigations.

Our Team

Ann Black

Roland Goss

Jason Gould

Stephanie Fichera

Stephen Jorden

Steven Kass

Glenn Merten

Kristin Shepard

Irma Solares