Friday, November 13, 2020

No. 398: Long-Term Care Insurance—Yet Another Update on the Skochin Lawsuit Against Genworth

In No. 384 (July 30, 2020), I posted my most recent update on the Skochin class action lawsuit against Genworth Financial, Inc. (Genworth) and Genworth Life Insurance Company (GLIC) relating to premium increases on long-term care (LTC) insurance policies. In that post, I provided a link to my first post on the case, and links to my first two updates. (See Skochin v. Genworth, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, Case No. 3:19-cv-49.)

Background
On January 18, 2019, Pennsylvania residents Jerome and Susan Skochin and Maryland resident Larry Huber filed a class action lawsuit against Genworth and GLIC. The plaintiffs had purchased LTC insurance policies in 2003 and 2004 from General Electric Capital Assurance Company, a predecessor of Genworth and GLIC. On October 30, 2019, the plaintiffs filed a notice of settlement. On January 15, 2020, Senior U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne held a hearing, granted preliminary approval of the settlement, directed that the class notice be mailed to class members, and set the final fairness hearing for July 10, 2020.

Recent Developments
On July 10 and 14, 2020, the judge heard arguments on the objections, and ordered further briefing. On September 14, he ordered further briefing.

On November 5, the judge issued a memorandum opinion and an accompanying order overruling class members' objections to the plaintiffs' motion to approve the settlement. Also on November 5, he issued a memorandum opinion and an accompanying order granting class counsel's motion for an award of attorney fees and expenses. The four November 5 documents are in the complimentary package offered at the end of this post.

An Invitation
When I posted No. 384, I said I do not intend to express an opinion about the fairness of the settlement from an actuarial standpoint because I am not an actuary and do not feel comfortable expressing such an opinion. However, I would welcome expressions of opinion from actuaries. As an aid to expressing an opinion, note that the complimentary packages offered in my five blog posts on the case are available and would provide a good starting point. If you need further documents, I can send you the current court docket and provide you with any court documents you would like to see. Should you respond to this invitation, please indicate whether you prefer your opinion to be with or without attribution, and I will honor your request.

Available Material
I am offering a complimentary 99-page PDF consisting of the judge's memorandum opinion and accompanying order granting final approval of the settlement (68 pages), and the judge's memorandum opinion and accompanying order granting approval of attorney fees and expenses (31 pages). Email jmbelth@gmail.com and ask for the November 2020 package about the case of Skochin v. Genworth.

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