After making two $500,000 premium payments, Li became suspect of the policy when statements she received from PacLife reported value far different from the figures she anticipated. Rules of Court, rule 9.40, subd. Case Summary On 07/28/2021 GARY MARENZI, filed a Contract - Other Contract lawsuit against PACIFIC LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY ,. This surrender charge will reduce the policys available cash value thereby limiting the amount that a policyholder can collect after surrendering their policy. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. NFU?[(c=h?qoCAI=tNsx0@0w/n[x'uhY55mPk/4IoKzWq}S0p?M/dPlZ:.y`W;V2(h'4| S o PLASI would then utilize the funding to purchase an annuity contract from Pacific Life to fund its obligations under the structured attorney fee payout. (Ibid.) Please do not include any confidential or sensitive information in a contact form, text message, or voicemail. 2:8-15.) Counsel for Defendant Lincoln National Life Insurance Company has filed a motion for admission pro hac vice. (Ibid.) Weaver also misrepresented that the policies would have sufficient values to offset any loan interest and collateral requirements, assuming there was not a multi-year decline in the stock market. Per California Rules of Court, rule 9.40, attorneys who are licensed to practice and in good standing in other states may, upon court approval, appear as counsel pro hac vice in a pending case if an active member of the State Bar of California also appears as counsel of record. (Complaint, 82-83.) But we demand a fact-based level of argument around here. Notice of Case Management Conference; Filed by Clerk. Now, PacLife moves to compel further responses to form interrogatories, special interrogatories, and requests for production of documents that were served in December 2021. The complaint mentions policy blending by noting that: PacLife offers agents higher commissionsup to three times higherto steer customers into a PDX Policy with all or a substantial portion of the face amount allocated to base coverage, even the policy charges would be far less under a blended structure. Indeed, it has been almost one year since these discovery requests were served, and this motion should not have been necessary. In ruling on a demurrer, the court must liberally construe[] the allegations of the complaint. However, legal allegations against the company indicate that these promises may be false. They lent their friend a van. The plaintiffs are alleging misleading marketing materials and excessive policy charges. I am shaking my head in utter astonishment your hijacking the Pac Life case into a discussion about blending is so far off the mark it borders on blogging malpractice. The Court declines to afford leave to amend, as it is clear that Plaintiffs cannot amend the complaint to address these issues. Not blending in an IUL is more devastating than in whole life. On 08/06/2020 HONG LI filed a Contract - Business lawsuit against PACIFIC LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. (Ibid.) 22.) In August of this year, two California residents filed a lawsuit against the Pacific Life Insurance Company alleging: Violation of Unfair Competition Law Business and Professions Code Fraud and Deceit Intentional Misrepresentation Negligent Misrepresentation Breach of Fiduciary Duty Professional Negligence Certain plaintiffs (Marenzi, Rebecca Prange, and Wesley Prange) assert a Second Cause of Action with four separate counts (for negligence misrepresentation, breach of contract, professional negligence, and declaratory relief) against United Omaha and Daniel Silverman. Youve been a wonderful lawyer and a friend. Docketat 4:20 PM in Department 39, Stephen I. Goorvitch, Presiding; Court Order, DocketMinute Order ( (Court Order: NOTICE OF RELATED CASE)); Filed by Clerk. ANTHONY ALAIMO, Senior District Judge . the content you have visited before, Advertising: Gather personally identifiable information such as name and location, Advertising: Use information for tailored advertising with third parties, Advertising: Allow you to connect to social sites, Advertising: Identify device you are using. 2:23-CV-00474 | 2023-01-20, U.S. District Courts | Labor | Each lawyer and staff member of our firm is devoted to assisting investors to recover losses caused by unsuitability, over-concentration, fraud, misrepresentation, self-dealing, unauthorized trades or other wrongful acts, whether intentional or negligent. By submitting your comment and contact information, you agree to receive marketing emails from Top Class Actions regarding this and/or similar lawsuits or settlements, and/or to be contacted by an attorney or law firm to discuss the details of your potential case at no charge to you if you qualify. Defendants Counsel shall provide notice and file proof of such with the Court. To request your free, no-obligation case assessment, call (800) 259-9010 or contact SSEK Law Firm online. Were looking at the situation and noting the various implications of this lawsuit. The policy in question is very new in relative terms. strategy, or any other savings/wealth accumulation plan there are certainly shade of necessity for blending as a crucial component of the plan implementation. But, even more, it is your self-respect and commitment to your position that I admire and your persistent patience-your equanimity. We recommend this because the brokerage firm you are pursuing for damages will have their own legal team fighting for them. 0:23-CV-00265 | 2023-02-02, U.S. District Courts | Labor | hXmo6+D?9RJ^c; bg]-6QY$*79/;XH,M""6sa!0w=F@02E? BM86"387ot/gCN"-3Yl`z5=iA,~FK? We can help you determine whether you have grounds for a claim for financial recovery and understand which financial firm you should pursue for damages. 2:23-CV-00460 | 2023-01-20, U.S. District Courts | Finance | By contrast, the complaint details all of the additional charges Plaintiffs were forced to pay as a result of Weavers alleged misrepresentations, as well as their severe emotional distress. (Id., 31-41.). Gwendalyn Douglass v. Reliant Life Shares LLC et al, Ed Baeza et al v. Reliant Life Shares, LLC et al, Auletto v. United of Omaha Life Insurance Company, HENDERSON v. UNITED OF OMAHA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, Kaza v. United of Omaha Life Insurance Company, Hack v. Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, Magliato v. The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company. Similarly, Plaintiffs argue: At the end of the 20 years under the United policy . In other words, Plaintiffs allege that their insurance plan involved keeping the United Omaha policy, because it purportedly had been paid-up for 20 years. Petersburg, and Washington, D.C. Recently, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Pacific Life regarding its popular and controversial PDX Index Universal Life (IUL) product. The lawsuit was filed by Bonnet, Fairbourn, Friedman and Balint, a law firm in Phoenix with a long track-record of class action suits in life insurance, including huge settlements in vanishing premium and COI increases. PacLife misleadingly marketed their PDX life insurance policies in a way that concealed the policies' risks while overstating their benefits, according to the plaintiff. What will be most interesting here is if the plaintiffs' attorneys can prove their allegations based on little historical evidence and a majority of hypothetical future performance. Plaintiffs suggest that this creates an overlap in damages because they jury will have to determine whether the increased costs stem from United Omahas misrepresentations or as a cost to cover from PacLife and Lincoln. 908 0 obj <> endobj The company is based in Newport Beach, California, and offers consumers a wide variety of life insurance products, investment products, retirement planning services, and annuities, among others. (Ibid.) Side note on this: the complaint does charge that PacLife materially misrepresented the conservative nature of IUL by both failing to disclose the risk of loss when an index return is zero (net loss due to insurance expense deductions) as well as the impact the multiplier has on the policy. These claims relate primarily to premium financing issues and the related representations. I'm not necessarily saying that was the circumstance in this specific case, but the complaint brought it up and itcould become a subject for further exploration among insurance regulators. According to the company, these policies offer protection for your loved ones, tax-deferred growth potential, tax-free supplemental income potential, and other benefits. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. GARY MARENZI, ET AL. The firm became a mutual life company owned by its shareholders. I think you are very correct in the context of an agent motivated to write more permanent life insurance per the budget/death benefit need, but the context of this discussion was blending used to maximize cash building potential of a policy. 470, directly to Pacific Life & Annuity Services, Inc. (PLASI), in exchange for the assignment of the obligation. Then, Plaintiffs discovered that, in fact, the United Omaha policy was not paid-up for 20 years, requiring them to pay $596,960 to maintain this policy for the full 20 years, per their original plan. 3. (Ibid. If you do not agree with these terms, then do not use our website and/or services. This was an aside because, to my knowledge, this is the first time a complaint filed spoke to blending as under the suggestion that the agent(s) broker their duty to the client (fiduciary or otherwise) because they did not use this method of policy design. Consumers are accusing PacLife of violating consumer protection laws by deceiving their customers and failing to disclose the risks and fees associated with their PDX policies. "l3241V G- z{3`}9/ $ HA The Court sustains the demurrer without leave to amend. So regulatory action already removed one of the key pillars of the plaintiffs' case against PacLife. By continuing to use this website, you agree to UniCourts General Disclaimer, Terms of Service, (Id., 104. The agreement in Kentucky settles all claims arising from those policies. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. It will also be interesting to see what happens with the agent Tiffant Xu and her insurance agency. DocketProof of Personal Service; Filed by Gary Marenzi (Plaintiff); Rebecca Prange (Plaintiff); Gregory Prange (Plaintiff) et al. Even if you dont believe the guaranteed rates are realistic, the fact is they are a theoretically possible scenario, else they wouldnt be there. This rule of liberal construction means that the reviewing court draws inferences favorable to the plaintiff, not the defendant. (Perez v. Golden Empire Transit Dist. An IUL class action lawsuit investigation is underway to probe into allegations that people who purchased Indexed Universal Life (IUL) insurance policies were misled into expecting unrealistic rates of return that comes after insurance companies presented used fabricated and false illustrations in marketing literature and sales material. Plaintiffs argue that they were forced to surrender their polices from PacLife and Lincoln, forcing them to pay more for substitute coverage, i.e., a United Omaha policy. The exact amount that a policyholder can walk away with will vary depending on the surrender fees charged by their insurance provider. Over the years, Pacific Life acquired many broker-dealers including Mutual Service Corporation, Associated Securities Corporation, M.L. Required fields are marked *. by Defendant Pacific Life Insurance Company ("PacLife") to sell its "Pacific Discovery Xelerator IUL" ("PDX") indexed universal life insurance policies to California residents. (Id., 31.) DocketNotice of Posting of Jury Fees; Filed by Gary Marenzi (Plaintiff); Rebecca Prange (Plaintiff); Gregory Prange (Plaintiff) et al. This policy has only accumulate/earned cash surrender of approximately $3,,600 since purchased it in 2002. When interest rates fall, insurance company general accounts have less money available to purchase the options on the SP500, which in turn forces a lower illustrated rate. PacLife has always taken a different approach to blending and certainly manufactured products where blending term insurance did enhance policy cash value performance. Weaver did not disclose the terms of the loan or life insurance policy, but stated that the only circumstances under which they would have to make payments would be in the event of a multi-year stock market decline. Agents who market life insurance as a savings vehicle, but fail to make use of blending have always ventured into territory that might one day be illegal, and this lawsuit might be the catalyst for that eventual discussion/reality. Then, Wintrust required additional collateral, so Marenzi assigned a $130,000 annuity to Wintrust as collateral, which had tax consequences. If you make a purchase using ), In 2011, Silverman represented to Gary Marenzi and Rebecca Prange that United Omaha would issue a joint and last survivor flexible premium life insurance policy with a death benefit of $3 million that would be fully funded at the guaranteed values for 20 years with a payment of $104,000 at the outset, which could be paid over two years with each payment being $52,000. This website is not intended for viewing or usage by European Union citizens. I set my expectations high, and they delivered above and beyond. The same should be done in IUL. administrator or law firm. Nevertheless, section 379 still requires claims arising out of the same transaction, or series of transactions or occurrences. (Code Civ. Before commenting, please review our . 937 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<58768771925F2449B604DCE4A3FB14BB>]/Index[908 52]/Info 907 0 R/Length 124/Prev 840995/Root 909 0 R/Size 960/Type/XRef/W[1 3 1]>>stream Pacific Life & Annuity Company is an affiliate of the investment firm. Plaintiff alleges the following on information and belief, except for those allegations relating to Plaintiff, which are alleged on personal knowledge. My husband and I bought this package in two. Notice of Posting of Jury Fees; Filed by Gary Marenzi (Plaintiff); Rebecca Prange (Plaintiff); Gregory Prange (Plaintiff) et al. (Ibid.) The contact form sends information by non-encrypted email, which is not secure. 4. We serve the following localities: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, "I am going to miss conversations with you, Sam Edwards. Write a 100k IUL and another 900k a 30 year term policy. Pacific Life Insurance Company, Defendant. ) Weaver represented that they would pay interest on the loan during the first year but nothing more out-of-pocket afterwards. If you purchased a PacLife PDX Policy and are not satisfied with how your policy has performed, you may be entitled to compensation for yourself and for other policy owners by joining this Pacific Life Insurance class action lawsuit. According to the firms CRD records, Pacific Life has been the subject of regulatory claims and litigation, such as: 2022: The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) imposed a $3M penalty on Pacific Life for conducting insurance business related to its pension risk transfer (PRT) business in the state without a license. And the best part of all, documents in their CrowdSourced Library are FREE! 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