Judge Stephen V. Wilson of the United States District Court for the Central District of California authorized the notice because you have a right to know about the Settlement of a class action lawsuit titled LSIMC, LLC v. American General Life Insurance Company, Case No. 2:20 cv 11518 SVW. The Settlement was approved on June 27, 2023. Please read the notice carefully. A copy of the notice is available on the Important Documents page of this website.

Plaintiff LSIMC, LLC claims that American General breached the terms of certain universal life insurance policies issued by American General because its redetermination of credited interest rates was not based only on expectations of future investment earnings.

American General denies all material allegations and claims and specifically denies that any redetermination of credited interest rates failed to comply with policy provisions. It is entering into this Settlement to avoid the costs, risks, and delays associated with continued litigation. The Settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing.

In a class action, one person or entity called a “Plaintiff” sues on behalf of all individuals and entities who have a similar claim. Together, Plaintiff and these policy owners with similar claims are called the “Class” or “Class Members.” One court resolves the issues for all Class Members, except for those who validly excluded themselves from the Class.

The Court has not decided in favor of either party. Instead, both sides have agreed to the Settlement. By agreeing to the Settlement, the parties avoid the costs and uncertainty of a trial. If the Settlement is finally approved by the Court, Settlement Class Members will receive the benefits described in the notice. The Settlement does not mean that any law was broken or that American General did anything wrong. Plaintiff and Class Counsel think that the Settlement is in the best interests of the Settlement Class and is fair, reasonable, and adequate.

Unless you request to be excluded, you are a member of the Settlement Class if you are the current owner of an in force life insurance policy or the most recent owner of a policy that is no longer in force as of January 13, 2023, on which American General Life Insurance Company credited interest to the accumulation value, and the policy provides that any redetermination of interest rates will be based “only on expectations of future investment earnings” and that have a guaranteed minimum annual effective interest rate of 3.00%.

These policies have the following product names: Platinum Survivor Ultra G, Elite Survivor G, Elite Universal Life 2003, Elite Transition UL, Elite Universal Life G 2003, Elite Universal Life G, Elite UL, Platinum Provider Ultra 2003, and ContinUL.

On August 4, 2022, the Court certified the “California Litigation Class.” If you are a member of the California Litigation Class, you may make a separate choice with respect to this Settlement Class, regardless of what decisions you made relating to the California Litigation Class. For example, you may request exclusion from this Settlement Class even if you had an earlier opportunity to request exclusion from the California Litigation Class but did not do so. Similarly, you may elect to do nothing and participate in this Settlement Class even if you requested exclusion from the California Litigation Class.

Yes. The Settlement Class excludes American General, its officers and directors, members of their immediate families, and the heirs, successors or assigns of any of the foregoing; the judge presiding over this case and court staff; and all counsel of record in this case. The Settlement Class will also exclude anyone who properly requests to be excluded (see FAQ 10).

You are receiving the notice because American General’s records indicate that you own or owned a policy that is included in the Settlement Class definition. If you are still not sure whether you are included in the Settlement Class, you can call the Settlement Administrator toll-free at 1-877-917-0158, or contact Class Counsel at the phone number or address listed in FAQ 14.

Settlement Class Members will receive the following benefits:

1. Settlement Fund: A Settlement Fund of $13 million will be established for the benefit of all Settlement Class Members. The Settlement Fund will be reduced proportionally by the percentage of Policies, if any, owned by Settlement Class Members who opt-out from the Settlement Class. The cost to administer the Final Settlement Fund (i.e., after reductions due to any opt-outs from the Settlement Class), Class Counsel’s attorney’s fees and costs, and an incentive award to the Class Representative, Plaintiff LSIMC, LLC (see Question 15 below), will be deducted from the Settlement Fund. The Settlement Administrator will distribute the remaining amounts in the Final Settlement Fund to Settlement Class Members pursuant to the terms of a Plan of Allocation. The Plan of Allocation distributes the Final Settlement Fund in amounts approximately proportional to the historical under-credits of interest alleged by Plaintiff. You can review the Plan of Allocation on the Important Documents page or you can call the Settlement Administrator toll-free at 1-877-917-0158 to request a copy. No portion of the Final Settlement Fund will be returned to American General if the Settlement is approved.

In addition to a payment from the Final Settlement Fund, American General will provide the following prospective relief for Settlement Class Members who own Policies that are currently In-Force:

2. Interest Bonus Benefit: Within ninety (90) days after the Settlement becomes effective, American General will redetermine interest crediting rates applied to premiums paid more than three years earlier (the “Redetermination Date”). For a period of four (4) years after the Redetermination Date, American General will credit Settlement Class Members’ accumulation value with an interest bonus each month, on top of any interest rate bonus provided for in the policy contracts, which will increase the credited interest rate applied to the Accumulation Value not offset by a policy loan for the following time period and specified amount. 

3. Portfolio Rate Benefit: Commencing on the Redetermination Date and for a period of four (4) years thereafter, American General agrees that when redetermining the credited Portfolio interest rate for the products listed below, the changed rate shall be calculated as follows: no less than American General’s benchmark Portfolio earned rates for that product as of the date the rate is redetermined minus the Spread Temporary amount set forth in the table below:

American General represents that the Total Estimated Value of the benefits described in B and C above, on a non-discounted basis, is approximately $42.5 million as of November 2022.

4. Non-Contestability Benefit: American General will not seek to void, rescind, cancel, have declared void, or otherwise deny coverage of death claims submitted by Settlement Class Members based on any alleged lack of insurable interest (the “Non-Contestability Benefit”). The Non-Contestability Benefit does not apply to any alleged lack of insurable interest made in connection with an application to reinstate coverage after the Effective Date of the Settlement.
5. COI Benefit: American General will not base any cost of insurance increase on the cost to American General of this Settlement or otherwise have the Settlement cost influence the magnitude of a cost of insurance increase.
6. Benchmark Earned Rate Calculation: American General will not change or adjust its methodology for calculating the benchmark New Money earned rates or benchmark Portfolio earned rates for the Policies to recoup any cost to American General of this Settlement.
    

You don’t have to do anything if you want to participate in the Settlement. By doing nothing, you are staying in the Settlement Class and you give up your right to sue American General as part of any other lawsuit about the claim resolved in this Settlement or the facts alleged in this lawsuit. This means that upon the Effective Date of the Settlement, you will relinquish all Plaintiff and Settlement Class Released Claims against the American General Releasees. These terms are defined as follows:

Plaintiff and Settlement Class Released Claims means: any and all claims, causes of action, debts, liabilities, damages, restitution, equitable, legal, and administrative relief, known and unknown, at law or in equity, whether brought directly or indirectly, including any further claim to recovery or relief as a result of action by any state or federal government agencies, arising out of or relating to the setting of credited interest rates on the Policies or any claims or causes of action that were or could have been alleged in the Action that are based on the same factual predicate, including but not limited to (a) the determination or redetermination of New Money or Portfolio credited interest rates, including the use of a spread when redetermining any New Money or Portfolio credited interest rates and the amount of any such spread; and (b) any under-crediting of interest on the Policies. Plaintiff and the Settlement Class are not releasing claims that arise more than 4 years after the Redetermination Date related to redetermining interest rates, any claim for payment of a death benefit, or otherwise to enforce the terms of a Policy unrelated to crediting of interest.

American General Releasees means: American General, American General’s current and former parents (including intermediate and ultimate parents), direct and indirect subsidiaries, affiliates, predecessors, joint ventures, successors, and assigns—including American International Group, Inc. and Corebridge Financial, Inc.—together with each of their current and former officers, directors, shareholders, employees, representatives, insurers, attorneys, general agents, agents and producers (including, but not limited to, those acting on behalf of American General and within the scope of their agency), and all of such Releasees’ heirs, administrators, executors, insurers, reinsurers, predecessors, successors and assigns, or any of them, and including any person or entity acting on behalf or at the direction of any of them. American General Releasees shall exclude any individual that is a Settlement Class Member.

In addition, section 1542 of the Civil Code of the State of California provides:

“A general release does not extend to claims that the creditor or releasing party does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release and that, if known by him or her, would have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor or released party.”

To the extent that California or other similar federal or state law may apply (because of or notwithstanding the parties’ choice of law in this agreement), you will be agreeing that the provisions of section 1542 and all similar federal or state laws, rights, rules, or legal principles, to the extent they are found to be applicable herein, are hereby knowingly and voluntarily waived and that this is an essential term of the release.

The deadline to exclude yourself from the Settlement was April 24, 2023 and has passed.

If you excluded yourself from the Settlement Class, you will not receive any payment from the Settlement or any other benefits from the Settlement. You will retain any rights you may have to sue or continue to sue American General for the same legal claims that are the subject of this lawsuit at your own expense.

The deadline to object to the Settlement was April 24, 2023 and has passed.

Objecting is telling the Court that you do not want the Settlement to go through for the Settlement Class because you do not like something about it. You can object to the Settlement only if you do not exclude yourself. Excluding yourself is telling the Court that you do not want to be part of the Settlement. If you exclude yourself, you cannot object to the Settlement because it no longer affects you.

Yes. The Court has appointed the following lawyers as “Class Counsel” to represent you and other Settlement Class Members:

Class Counsel represents the Class on a contingency-fee basis, which means that Settlement Class Members do not incur any legal fees or out-of-pocket expenses. The Court will determine how much Class Counsel will be paid for fees and expenses. Class Counsel filed a motion seeking an award of attorney’s fees not to exceed the lesser of $8 million or 33.3% of the combined value of the cash and increased accumulation value components of the settlement relief, plus reimbursement of litigation expenses.

In addition to seeking an award for attorney’s fees and costs, Class Counsel also sought an incentive award of up to $25,000 for Plaintiff LSIMC for its service as a Class Representative to be paid from the Final Settlement Fund.

The Court held a Fairness Hearing on June 26, 2023 at 1:30 p.m., at the United States Courthouse, 350 W. First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012, Courtroom 10A. At this hearing, the Court considered whether the settlement was fair, reasonable, and adequate. If there were any objections, the Court considered them at that time. After the hearing, the Court decided to approve the settlement.

No. Class Counsel answered any questions the Court may have had. You or your own lawyer were welcome to attend and speak at the hearing at your own expense.

Key Dates and Important Documents related to the lawsuit and the Settlement Agreement can be found on this website on their respective pages. You can also call the Settlement Administrator toll-free at 1-877-917-0158, or write to:

LSIMC v. American General Life Insurance Co.
c/o JND Legal Administration
PO Box 91348
Seattle, WA 98111

PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE COURT, AMERICAN GENERAL, OR AMERICAN GENERAL’S ATTORNEYS CONCERNING THIS LAWSUIT.