Tuesday, March 23, 2021

No. 414: A Strange Twist in Tranamerica's Appeal in the Lebbin Case

Background
In No. 372 (May 18, 2020), I posted an update on the Spector-Lebbin Family Trust (Trust) lawsuit against Transamerica Life Insurance Company (Transamerica). I mentioned several aspects of the case. I said it began in federal court in Maryland, and was transferred at Transamerica's request to federal court in Florida, where the policies were originally sold and where several potential witnesses were located. I also said the judge in Florida ruled Transamerica should pay the Trust about $2.5 million, including interest, for breach of contract. I also said Transamerica appealed to the federal Eleventh Circuit.

In No. 397 (November 9, 2020), I posted another update. I said Transamerica and the Trust filed their initial appellate briefs on August 31, 2020 and October 30, 2020, respectively. I also said there was not yet a timetable for the appellate case.

A Strange Twist
The Eleventh Circuit covers Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. Thus it was natural for Transamerica to file its appeal in the Eleventh Circuit. On February 23, 2021, in a strange twist, the clerk of the Eleventh Circuit wrote a letter to the parties raising a jurisdictional issue. Here is the opening paragraph of the clerk's letter (the full letter is in the complimentary package offered at the end of this post):
After review of the district court docket entries, order and/or judgment appealed from, and the notice of appeal, it appears that this court may lack jurisdiction over this appeal. If it is determined that this court is without jurisdiction, this appeal will be dismissed.
The clerk asked the parties to advise the court simultaneously within 14 days of their positions regarding the jurisdictional issue. He said they could file their responses electronically, and did not need to file paper copies. Both parties filed their responses on March 9. On March 17, the Trust filed a "motion for leave to file sur-reply." The next day, Transamerica filed an opposition to the motion. The two responses, the motion, and the opposition to the motion are in the complimentary package offered at the end of this post. At this writing, there is nothing further on the Eleventh Circuit docket.

General Observations
In their responses to the jurisdictional issue, the parties explained why they think the Eleventh Circuit has jurisdiction. I do not understand why the Eleventh Circuit thinks it may not have jurisdiction. I will report further developments.

Available Material
I am offering a complimentary 55-page PDF consisting of the Eleventh Circuit clerk's letter (2 pages), the Trust's response to the clerk's letter (21 pages), Transamerica's response to the clerk's letter (12 pages), the Trust's motion (10 pages), and Transamerica's opposition to the motion (10 pages). Email jmbelth@gmail.com and ask for the March 2021 package about the Lebbin case.

===================================

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

No. 413: USAA's Executive Compensation for 2020 Hits the News

On March 1, 2021 (the due date), United Services Automobile Association (USAA) filed with the Nebraska Department of Insurance the 2020 Supplemental Compensation Exhibits for USAA and four other USAA companies: USAA Casualty Insurance Company, USAA Life Insurance Company, USAA General Indemnity Company, and Garrison Property and Casualty Insurance Company. The exhibits are required by Nebraska law for insurance companies doing business in the state. The five exhibits are here.

The Danner Article
Patrick Danner is a staff writer for the San Antonio Express News. In an article updated March 5 and entitled "Former USAA CEO Stuart Parker receives more than $6 million golden parachute," Danner wrote about recent executive compensation developments at USAA. He wrote not only about Parker, but also about others, including Parker's successor, Wayne Peacock. Here are the first three sentences of the Danner article:
Former USAA CEO Stuart Parker had a cushy landing following his departure last year from the San Antonio insurance and financial services company. Parker, who retired January 31, 2020, after leading USAA for almost five years, received at least $6.5 million in severance payments. The golden parachute accounted for more than half of the $11.3 million in total compensation five USAA insurance companies paid him last year.
The Cunningham Article
Waylon Cunningham writes about business and technology. On March 5, he wrote an article in the San Antonio Report entitled "Former USAA CEO Stuart Parker netted a $6.5 million severance package." Here are the first three sentences of the Cunningham article:
Former USAA CEO Stuart Parker received a severance package worth at least $6.5 million after he left the company last year. The payments, made after he retired January 31, 2020, formed the bulk of the more than $11.3 million he received in total compensation from five USAA-affiliated companies last year, according to records from the Nebraska Department of Insurance. Besides the severance package, Parker in 2020 also received $336,473 in salaries and $4.8 million in additional compensation, including bonuses.
The USAA Campaign
In the early days of this blog site, I posted three blog items about USAA's campaign to repeal Nebraska's century-old insurance executive compensation disclosure law. William H. McCartney, who at the time was senior vice president and associate general counsel of USAA, led the repeal effort. He had served as Nebraska's director of insurance from 1987 to 1994, and as president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 1992. The repeal effort failed, and Nebraska's disclosure law remains in effect today. For further details about the USAA campaign, see No. 38 (March 31, 2014), No. 39 (April 7, 2014), and No. 40 (April 11, 2014).

Executive Compensation Data for 2019
Long-time readers are aware that I have been writing about executive compensation in the insurance industry for many years. It began with an article in the October 1975 issue of my monthly newsletter, The Insurance Forum, where I showed the 1974 compensation of senior executives of five large mutual life insurance companies. The information was of such great interest to readers that I steadily expanded the coverage.

When I ended the Forum at the end of 2013, I began showing some executive compensation data on this blog site. For example, the 2019 data from my three sources (the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York State Department of Financial Services, and the Nebraska Department of Insurance) are in No. 381 (July 13, 2020), No. 385 (August 7, 2020), and No. 404 (December 23, 2020).

Chapter 24 of My Memoir
In Chapter 24 of my 2015 book, The Insurance Forum: A Memoir, I summarized my experience over the years in assembling executive compensation data. The experience included many efforts by insurance companies and insurance regulators to prevent access to executive compensation data. Chapter 24 and the book's Table of Contents are here, along with an order form for any reader interested in buying the book.

===================================

Thursday, March 11, 2021

No. 412: A Recent John Grisham Page Turner

John Grisham is one of my favorite authors. He has written about three dozen novels, one work of nonfiction, a collection of short stories, and several books for young readers. I have read many of his books.

A Time for Mercy
A few months ago I read A Time for Mercy, which at the time was a recently published page turner. It was set a few years after the events described in his fascinating first book, A Time to Kill, and includes many of the same characters. The book centers around the subject of domestic violence. A teenage boy murders the man in whose house the boy, the boy's mother, and the boy's sister live. The boy is charged with murder and is defended by the same attorney who was one of the central characters in Grisham's first book. The recent book, like all of Grisham's books, is almost impossible to put down, and has some surprising developments at the end. I strongly recommend the book.

My Earlier Reviews of Grisham Books
Grisham's sixth book, a 1995 novel entitled The Rainmaker, centers around a large fictional health insurance company whose refusal to honor a claim leads to the death of the claimant. The insurance angle prompted me to write a short review of the book in the August 1995 issue of my monthly newsletter, The Insurance Forum.

My second review of a Grisham book described one of the short stories, entitled "Michael's Room," in a 2008 book entitled Ford County. The story is about an infant who suffers severe brain damage as the result of a botched delivery, and about the family's negligence lawsuit against the physician. My review of "Michael's Room" was in the May 2010 issue of the Forum.

My third review of a Grisham book was about a 2010 book entitled Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer. The book was the first of several books for young readers. The central character is a 13-year-old whose parents are lawyers and who seems headed for a legal career himself. Here though, our hero gets involved in a murder trial in his home town. My review of the book was in the December 2010 issue of the Forum.

My first three reviews of Grisham books, described briefly above, are here. My fourth review of a Grisham book, a 2013 book entitled Sycamore Row, appeared in No. 7 (November 13, 2013), one of my first blog posts.

===================================

Thursday, March 4, 2021

No. 411: More on COVID-19 and the Underwriting of Life Insurance

In No. 409 (February 11, 2021), I reported that the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) had written a letter to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) about COVID-19 and the underwriting of life insurance. The letter grew out of developments reportedly occurring in Europe. The CFA sent copies of the letter to the chief executive officers of several large life insurance companies based in the United States, as well as to the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI). In No. 409, I provided this link to the CFA letter.

The ACLI Letter to the CFA
I said I would write soon to the NAIC, the ACLI, the CEOs of a few of the companies to which the CFA had written, and a few other CEOs. I also said I would ask for their comments, and would post a follow-up report on the responses. However, I changed my mind when I received from the CFA a copy of a two-page letter it had received from Susan K. Neely, president and CEO of ACLI. The ACLI letter is here.

The CFA Reply to the ACLI Letter
Shortly thereafter, I received from the CFA a copy of its reply to the ACLI letter. The CFA reply to the ACLI letter is here.

General Observations
I think the original CFA letter, the ACLI letter to the CFA, and the CFA reply to the ACLI letter together contain a great deal of food for thought. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, the NAIC does about the problem. I plan to report about significant further developments on the subject.

===================================

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)