Saturday, July 26, 2025

No. 454: Joseph M. Belth, Ph.D.
OCTOBER 22, 1929—JULY 12, 2025

BLOOMINGTON—Joseph M. Belth, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Insurance in the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University (Bloomington), 95, passed away July 12, 2025. He was born in Syracuse, New York, on October 22, 1929.

Belth was the author of The Insurance Forum: A Memoir (2015), Life Insurance: A Consumer's Handbook (1973 and 1985), several other books, and many journal articles. He founded The Insurance Forum, an independent monthly periodical, and was its editor for its entire 40 years, from January 1974 through December 2013. He was a blogger at www.josephmbelth.com from 2013 through January 2022. 

For The Insurance Forum, Belth received a George Polk Award in 1990 in the "special publications" category. He received the 2017 John Newton Russell Memorial Award in recognition of a lifetime of professional excellence, service to the life insurance and financial planning industry, and commitment to ethical conduct. For one of his books, Participating Life Insurance Sold by Stock Companies, he received the 1966 Elizur Wright Award for outstanding original contribution to the literature of insurance. He received a 1999 Huebner Gold Medal for distinguished service to education and professionalism. He received many other awards.

Belth held degrees from Auburn (New York) Community College (now Cayuga Community College), Syracuse University, and the University of Pennsylvania. At Penn he was a fellow of the S. S. Huebner Foundation for Insurance Education. He was a life insurance agent in Syracuse for five years in the 1950s. He was a past president of the American Risk and Insurance Association, an organization of insurance professors and others interested in insurance education and research. He had been a member of the Indiana University faculty since 1962.

Belth was the subject of a page-one profile in The Wall Street Journal on January 5, 1978. He was also profiled in Barron's on June 8, 1981, and in The New York Times on April 17, 1990. 

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Monday, May 16, 2022

No. 453: My Retirement

I am now fully retired, and I no longer follow the insurance industry closely. As a result, I will not be posting any more items on my blog. Packages offered are still available and we will email any you request. When you ask for them, please include the number and title of the blog post in which the package you request was offered. 

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Friday, January 28, 2022

No. 452: The Texas State Securities Board Announces the Top Investor Threats for 2022

On January 10, 2022, the Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) announced the top investor threats and urged caution before purchasing popular and volatile unregistered investments, especially those involving cryptocurrency and digital assets. TSSB also announced guidance for investors, including steps to take to protect from fraud in the new year. The top 2022 threats were determined by a survey of securities regulators conducted by the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA).

TSSB is a frequent source of valuable information for persons interested in securities regulation. I recommend that such persons sign up to receive TSSB news releases and updates regularly.

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Friday, January 7, 2022

No. 451: A Date That Shall Live in Infamy

On December 7, 2021, I gave considerable thought to the 80th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed the nation from the Capitol the next morning, he called the date of the attack "a date that shall live in infamy."

My family learned of the attack on the radio at the north end of the living room in our home in Syracuse, New York. In our driveway was our 1936 Oldsmobile sedan, which provided us with very little transportation during the war because of gasoline rationing.

An important 1960 book about World War II is entitled The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William L. Shirer. The book describes in detail what happened in Adolf Hitler's bunker below the Chancellery in Berlin. It was in that bunker where Hitler spent his final days, where he prepared his last will and testament, and where he shot himself to death on April 30, 1945.

I traveled to Hawaii many years after the war. I was deeply moved when I visited the U.S.S. Missouri memorial.

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Tuesday, December 28, 2021

No. 450: The South Carolina Department of Insurance Attacks the SHIP Rehabilitation Plan

On November 16, 2021, the South Carolina Department of Insurance (SCDOI) issued a media release entitled "SCDOI Director Ray Farmer Seeks to Stop the Implementation of the Rehabilitation Plan for Senior Health Insurance Company of Pennsylvania (SHIP) in South Carolina." The first sentence of the media release reads: "Yesterday, Ray Farmer, Director of the SCDOI, took another step toward protecting consumers who have long-term care insurance with SHIP from potentially detrimental rate increases or benefit reductions."

On November 19, Chief Administrative Judge L. Casey Manning of the Fifth Judicial Circuit in Columbia, South Carolina, blocked immediate implementation of the SHIP Rehabilitation Plan. At this writing, the fate of the SHIP Rehabilitation Plan is not known.

I have written extensively about SHIP's financial problems. To review my posts about SHIP, click here or search for SHIP on my blog using the search box in the extreme upper left corner.

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Tuesday, December 14, 2021

No. 449: The AM Best Business Trilogy

On August 21, 2020, A. M. Best Company published The AM Best Business Trilogy. The company sent me a review copy consisting of three hardback books.

One book, entitled The Man, is a 275-page (including end notes and index) biography of Alfred M. Best. Another book, entitled The Company, is a 581-page (including end notes and index) history of A. M. Best Company. The third book, entitled The Industry, is an 815-page (including end notes and index) history of the credit rating agencies.

The Trilogy is an impressive piece of work. It is available for $75 from A. M. Best Company or from Amazon.

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Wednesday, December 8, 2021

No. 448: A Class Action Lawsuit Against Governor Jay Inslee of Washington State and Others

In 2019, Governor Jay Inslee of Washington State signed into law a state program designed to address the problem of financing the long-term care exposure faced by residents of the state. The statute created a "long term service and support trust fund" referred to as "WA Care," and at the beginning of next year workers will be required to start contributing to the fund. WA Care is the nation's first state-operated long-term care insurance program.

On November 9, 2021, three entities and six individuals filed in federal court in Seattle a class action lawsuit against Governor Inslee and three others. (See Pacific Bells, LLC et al. v. Jay Inslee et al., U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington, Case No. 2:21-cv-1515.) Here is the first paragraph of the introduction in the 21-page complaint:
Beginning January 1, 2022, Washington State workers will pay $0.58 per $100 (.58%) of earnings to the Long-Term Service and Support Trust Fund (the "Trust") pursuant to the Long Term Services and Support Trust Program, referred to as "WA Care" or the "Act" and codified as RCW 50B.04, et seq. This action challenges the Act and requests a declaratory judgment that the Act is unenforceable as it violates ERISA and federal and state laws governing employee benefit plans and multiple employer welfare arrangements ("MEWAs").
The Judge
The case has been assigned to Senior Judge Thomas S. Zilly. President Reagan nominated him in February 1988 and the Senate confirmed him in April 1988. He assumed senior status in January 2004.

General Observations
This interesting case is in its early stages. I plan to provide an update in due course.

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Tuesday, November 23, 2021

No. 447: A Class Action Relating to an Alleged Pyramid Scheme

On June 25, 2018, two individuals filed, in federal court in California, a class action lawsuit against a suspended California corporation, five individuals, a Texas corporation, and a California limited liability company. (See In Re Premium Financial Alliance, Inc. Insurance Marketing Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, Oakland Division, Case No. 4:18-cv-3771.)

The Original Complaint
The plaintiffs alleged in the 29-page original complaint that they had been victimized by a "classic pyramid scheme." The first paragraph of the "Introduction to the Case" section of the original complaint reads:
The Defendants are operating a classic pyramid scheme. What makes this scam particularly egregious is that the Defendants have never marketed or sold insurance policies to any retail customers, but instead derive 100% of the scheme's revenue from chain recruitment. These practices have been prohibited by the Federal Trade Commission, and violate State and Federal Laws. Plaintiffs and tens of thousands have joined PFA and have become "Associates." Plaintiffs did not make money as promised. The Associates failed because they were doomed from the start by a PFA marketing plan that systematically rewards recruiting Associates over the sale of overpriced insurance product or service to retail customers.
The original complaint does not describe the targets of the pyramid scheme. Other case documents, however, indicate that the program was aimed at Chinese, Vietnamese, and other immigrants who may have limited fluency in the English language.

Subsequent Developments
Subsequent to the filing of the original complaint, there have been amended complaints, answers to the complaints, and unsuccessful motions to dismiss. On May 14, 2021, the plaintiffs filed a motion for class certification.

General Observations
This is an interesting case. Because I am not an attorney, it would be inappropriate for me to express a legal opinion on it. The case has a long way to go, and I plan to provide an update fairly soon.

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Wednesday, November 17, 2021

No. 446: The Bounty Trilogy

Recently I completed some pleasurable reading. I decided to prepare this blog post in case some of you might want to do the same.

The Bounty was a small English warship that in 1787 set out on a very long voyage to Tahiti to pick up breadfruit trees, which would provide a source of inexpensive food for slaves in the West Indies. Lieutenant William Bligh captained the Bounty. Fletcher Christian was the Master's Mate on the Bounty and the leader of the mutineers.

Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall wrote a trilogy of historical novels describing the voyage. The titles of the three books, all published in the early 1930s, are Mutiny on the Bounty, Men Against the Sea, and Pitcairn's Island. The first book is about the mutiny and its immediate aftermath. Instead of killing Bligh, the mutineers put him and 18 others in a small open boat, called a "launch," with food and supplies, and set them adrift. The second book is about Bligh's incredibly long and successful voyage in the launch, after which he returned to England. The third book is about a remote island where Christian and some of the mutineers settled permanently and destroyed the Bounty.

I read the trilogy about 70 years ago. Recently, on a whim, I decided to reread Mutiny on the Bounty. In addition to describing the mutiny, it also discusses what happened in the first several years after the mutiny, and, in an epilogue, what happened many years after the mutiny.

Several movies have been made about the Bounty. My favorite is the 1935 black-and-white film starring Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian and Charles Laughton as William Bligh. The narrator was Englishman Roger Byam, who was played in the film by actor Franchot Tone.

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Wednesday, November 10, 2021

No. 445: Kemper's Long Legal Struggle Relating to Lost Policyholders: An Update

In No. 424 (June 10, 2021), I wrote about Kemper's long legal struggle relating to lost policyholders. The struggle is now in the Florida Supreme Court. Here I provide an update on the case. (See United Insurance Company of America v. Patronis, Florida Supreme Court, Case No. SC20-1306.)

On October 12, 2021, the Florida Supreme Court issued an order setting oral argument at 9:00 a.m. on December 8, 2021. Each side is given a maximum of 20 minutes. No continuances will be granted except upon a showing of extreme hardship. I plan to provide a further update when I consider it warranted.

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Thursday, November 4, 2021

No. 444: Adam Schiff's Important Book

Adam Schiff's important book was published on October 12, 2021. It is entitled Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could.

Schiff represents California's 28th congressional district. As chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, he was heavily involved in both impeachments of Donald Trump. Schiff's book presents a tremendous amount of detail about Trump's attack on our democracy. Here is what presidential historian Michael Beschloss says about Schiff's book: "In this thoughtful, absorbing and revelatory memoir, an important champion and defender of American democracy shows us how he became a national leader and, drawing on his experience on the inside, how close the Trump regime brought us to losing our system." Here is the final paragraph in the epilogue of Schiff's book:
Seventeen years from now, when the present is a distant memory for all but the cicadas, we will look back on this time as a decisive moment for our country, when we were at sea and our destination remained unknown, our future obscure, the great enterprise in self-rule in doubt. Did we turn back toward the shores of our Founders, or was this the moment when the clouds descended, the stars disappeared, and we became irretrievably lost? We must understand that we are not passengers on this journey, unable to steer the country we all love in one direction or another. It is within our power to take hold of the rudder, choose the future we want for our children and grandchildren, and, with the grace of God, make it so.
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Friday, October 22, 2021

No. 443: The Secondary Market for Life Insurance Policies

In my 2015 book entitled The Insurance Forum: A Memoir, Chapter 9 is entitled "The Secondary Market for Life Insurance Policies." In that 12-page chapter, I discuss the origin and growth of the secondary market, including viatical settlements, life settlements, and stranger-originated life insurance (STOLI). I refer to STOLI as speculator-initiated life insurance (spinlife).

I have long been concerned about the negative impact of the secondary market (the "unselling" of life insurance) on life insurance companies and their policyholders. Recently I heard reports about life insurance companies and life settlement companies competing vigorously against one another in their efforts to persuade policyholders to cash in or sell their life insurance policies. For that reason, I decided to prepare this blog post to revisit the subject. After you read Chapter 9 of my Memoir, I would welcome your comments.

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Friday, October 15, 2021

No. 442: A 25-Year Prison Term for a Securities Fraudster in Texas

The TSSB Press Release
On October 4, 2021, the Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) issued a press release announcing that Mejdi Mahmoud Abousaoui has been sentenced to 25 years in state prison and ordered to pay restitution of about $3 million for engaging in first-degree securities fraud. He was prosecuted in Fort Bend County, Texas.

The Felony Complaint
The charges against Abousaoui were in the form of an eight-page felony complaint. It charged him with engaging in a Ponzi scheme that ran from early 2015 through mid-2018 and involved at least 70 victims. The felony complaint lists the names of the victims and the amounts and dates of their losses. The first paragraph of the felony complaint reads:
Before me, the undersigned Assistant District Attorney of Fort Bend County, Texas, this day appeared the undersigned affiant, who under oath says he has good reason to believe and does believe that in Fort Bend County, Texas, Mejdi Mahmoud Abousaoui, hereafter styled the Defendant, heretofore, on or about and between March 1, 2015, and April 30, 2018, pursuant to one scheme and continuing course of conduct, did, unlawfully, then and there, directly and indirectly, and through his company Abousaoui Financial, LLC, sell and offer for sale investments in the Abousaoui Financial investment program (hereinafter referred to as the Program), being securities, namely: stocks, shares, notes, bonds, investment contracts, and evidences of indebtedness, to each of the persons listed below and in the following amounts:
The felony complaint lists the names of the victims. It also shows the dates and amounts of their losses.

According to the TSSB press release, Abousaoui has already paid more than $200,000 of restitution. He has been ordered to pay the remaining balance of about $2.8 million of restitution.

General Observations
I recommend that you read the felony complaint against Abousaoui in its entirety. A link to it is in the third sentence of this blog post. Comments from readers would be welcomed.

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Friday, October 8, 2021

No. 441: The Massachusetts Securities Regulator Settles an Investigation of a Massachusetts Mutual Subsidiary

The Journal Article
On September 17, 2021, The Wall Street Journal carried a 600-word article on page B1 of the print edition entitled "GameStop Trader's Firm Is Fined—MassMutual faulted by regulator for lack of procedures to monitor activity of Keith Gill." The reporter was Caitlin McCabe. Here is the first paragraph of the article:
A Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. subsidiary agreed to pay a $4 million fine to settle an inquiry from Massachusetts securities regulators into the social-media and trading activity of its employees, including well-known GameStop Corp. investor Keith Gill.
The Two Consent Orders
William Francis Galvin is the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and heads the Massachusetts Securities Division. The settlement took the form of two Consent Orders, which readers may wish to review in their entirety, dated September 15, 2021 "In the Matter of MML Investors Services, LLC (MMLIS)."

One of the Consent Orders is Docket No. 2021-0004. Here is the first paragraph of the 18-page Consent Order:
This Consent Order is entered into by the Massachusetts Securities Division and MML Investors Services, LLC with respect to the investigation by the Division into whether MMLIS' activities and conduct violated the Massachusetts Uniform Securities Act, Gen. Laws ch. 110A, and the corresponding regulations promulgated thereunder at 950 Mass. Code Regs. 10.00 - 14.413.
The other Consent Order is Docket No. R-2019-0096. Here is the first paragraph of the 13-page Consent Order:
This Consent Order is entered into by the Massachusetts Securities Division and MML Investors Services, LLC with respect to the investigation by the Registration, Inspections, Compliance and Examinations Section of the Massachusetts Securities Division of the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth regarding MMLIS' failure to register its agents who conducted securities business in Massachusetts, as well as the individuals responsible for supervising the agents, in violation of the Massachusetts Uniform Securities Act, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 110A and the corresponding regulations promulgated thereunder at 950 Mass. Code Regs. 10.00 - 14.413.
General Observations
The regulatory settlement discussed in this blog post is complex. I recommend that you read the Journal article mentioned at the beginning of this blog post and the two Consent Orders. I would welcome comments from readers.

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Friday, October 1, 2021

No. 440: The 9/11 Commission Report

As the 20-year commemoration of the terrorist attack on the United States blanketed the nation, I realized I had not read the 9/11 Commission Report. I have remedied the failure by reading the 593-page Report in its entirety. I then decided to prepare this blog post.

The 9/11 Commission
Congress and President George W. Bush created the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Public Law 107-306, November 27, 2002). Ten Commissioners, consisting of five Republicans and five Democrats chosen by elected leaders from our nation's capital, came together to present the Report without dissent.

The Commission's Mandate
The Commission had a sweeping mandate: to investigate facts and circumstances relating to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, including those relating to intelligence agencies, law enforcement agencies, diplomacy, immigration issues, border control, the flow of assets to terrorist organizations, commercial aviation, the role of congressional oversight and resource allocation, and other areas determined relevant by the Commission. The Commission held 29 days of hearings and took public testimony from 160 witnesses.

Thomas H. Kean was Chair of the Commission. Lee H. Hamilton was Vice Chair. The other members were Richard Ben-Veniste, Fred F. Fielding, James S. Gorelick, Slade Gorton, Bob Kerrey, John F. Lehman, Timothy J. Roemer, and James R. Thompson. Philip Zelikow was the Executive Director of the Commission Staff.

Structure of the Report
The first major section of the Report is entitled "Inside the Four Flights." It describes in excruciating detail what happened on the four hijacked flights: American Airlines Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 175, American Airlines Flight 77, and United Airlines Flight 93.

The second major section of the Report is about the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). The third major section is about National Crisis Management. The fourth major section, about "The Foundation of the New Terrorism," focuses on Usama [sic] bin Laden and also discusses Al Qaeda and its renewal in Afghanistan.

The fifth major section is entitled "Counterterrorism Evolves." It discusses the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Department of Defense, the State Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and other agencies.

General Observations
I was impressed by the quality of the Report. I think it is well worth taking the time to read it in its entirety. A link to the Report is in the first paragraph of this blog post. I would welcome comments from readers.

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Friday, September 24, 2021

No. 439: Another Class Action Lawsuit Against Genworth

The Halcom Lawsuit
On January 11, 2021, Judy Halcom and three other individuals filed a class action lawsuit against Genworth Life Insurance Company (GLIC) and Genworth Life Insurance Company of New York (GLICNY). In this case, the two defendants collectively are referred to as "Genworth." (See Halcom v. Genworth, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, Case No. 3:21-cv-19.)

A Brief Summary
The introduction in the Halcom complaint describes the nature of the lawsuit. Here is the third paragraph of the introduction:
3. Since 2008, Genworth has steadily and substantially increased the premiums on these policies. To be clear, this case does not challenge Genworth's contractual right to increase these premiums, or its need for premium increases given changes in certain of Genworth's actuarial assumptions and the historical experience of these policy blocks. Nor does this case ask the Court to reconstitute any of the premium rates or otherwise substitute its judgment for that of any insurance regulator in approving the increased rates. Rather, this case seeks to remedy the harm caused to Plaintiffs and the Classes from Genworth's partial disclosures of material information when communicating the premium increases, and the omission of material information necessary to make those partial disclosures adequate. Without this material information, Plaintiffs and the Classes could not make informed decisions in response to the premium increases and ultimately made policy option renewal elections they never would have made had the Company adequately disclosed the staggering scope and magnitude of its internal rate increase action plans in the first place.
The Judge
The Halcom case was assigned to U.S. Senior District Court Judge Robert E. Payne. President George W. Bush nominated him in November 1991. The Senate confirmed him in May 1992. He assumed senior status in May 2007.

The Halcom Settlement
On August 30, 2021, Judge Payne issued an order granting preliminary approval of the Halcom settlement and directing notice to the class of over 146,000 members in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. He appointed Epiq Class Action & Claims Solutions, Inc. (Epiq) as administrator of the settlement, approved the class notice and the publication notice, and ordered Epiq to disseminate the class notice to class members within 60 days. He approved the form of the Special Election Letter to be mailed to class members, subject to possible changes by state insurance regulators. He described the procedure for exclusions and objections, set the final approval hearing for February 9, 2022, and attached a list of all the policy form numbers. He also attached the notice to class members (nine pages) and the publication notice (one page), which are here.

In the notice to class members, there is a section on attorneys' fees and litigation expenses. It says the class attorneys (the same attorneys who filed the Skochin complaint mentioned later), as part of the request for final approval of the settlement, will request (a) $1 million relating to the injunctive relief that is in the form of the disclosures, and (b) an additional contingent payment of 15 percent of certain amounts related to the class members' selection of options, but no greater than $18,500,000. None of the attorneys' fees will be deducted from the payments made to class members. Also, the class attorneys will request an award of litigation expenses of no more than $50,000. Genworth has agreed to pay all fees and expenses. The class attorneys will also request approval of payment of up to $15,000 for each of the four named plaintiffs.

Genworth's Comments on the Halcom Settlement
On August 5, 2021, Genworth filed its 10-Q report for the quarter ended June 30, 2021, with the Securities and Exchange Commission. On pages 66-67 of the report, Genworth made these comments on the proposed settlement of the Halcom case:
If we enter into a settlement consistent with the agreement in principle reached on June 18, 2021, we do not anticipate the result to have a material negative impact on our results of operations or financial position. If we do not enter into a final settlement, we intend to continue to vigorously defend this action.
The Eastern District of Virginia
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (where Genworth is based) has a reputation as the fastest civil trial court in the United States. The Halcom case is an example. The complaint was filed on January 11, 2021. Genworth's answer to the complaint was filed on March 15. A pretrial conference was held on April 21. A scheduling order was issued on May 3. The parties were engaged in private mediation on May 27. The parties agreed to a settlement on June 30. The proposed settlement was filed on August 23. Preliminary approval of the settlement was granted on August 30. The settlement approval hearing on February 9, 2022 was set on September 2, 2021.

The Skochin Lawsuit
The Halcom case resembles the case of Skochin v. Genworth. My most recent update on Skochin is in No. 398 (November 13, 2020).

General Observations
I plan to post a follow-up to this blog post after Judge Payne grants final approval of the Halcom settlement.

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Friday, September 17, 2021

No. 438: The Texas Republicans' Abortion Law

The Texas Abortion Law
The Republican-controlled Texas legislature recently enacted, and the Republican governor of Texas signed, a frightening abortion law that took effect at midnight on September 1, 2021. Opponents immediately asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that the law is unconstitutional. In a shocking development, the Supreme Court denied the request in a 5 to 4 Court order, with Chief Justice Roberts joining with the three liberal justices.

The Sotomayor Dissent
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a powerful dissenting opinion, with which liberal Justices Breyer and Kagan joined. The first paragraph and the last two paragraphs of the Sotomayor dissent read as follows:
The Court order is stunning. Presented with an application to enjoin a flagrantly unconstitutional law engineered to prohibit women from exercising their constitutional rights and evade judicial scrutiny, a majority of Justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand. Last night, the Court silently acquiesced in a state enactment of a law that flouts nearly 50 years of federal precedents. Today, the Court belatedly explains that it declined to grant relief because of procedural complexities of the State's own invention. Ante, at 1. Because the Court's failure to act rewards tactics designed to avoid judicial review and inflict significant harm on the applicants and on women seeking abortions in Texas, I dissent....
The Court should not be so content to ignore its constitutional obligations to protect not only the rights of women, but also the sanctity of its precedents and of the rule of law.
I dissent.
Dissenters normally say "I respectfully dissent." In this instance, Sotomayor said "I dissent." I recommend that you read the full Sotomayor dissent and the related filings (12 pages).

The Garland Statement
On September 6, the U.S. Department of Justice released a statement from U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland about the Texas abortion law. Here is the full statement:
While the Justice Department urgently explores all options to challenge [the Texas abortion law] in order to protect the constitutional rights of women and other persons, including access to an abortion, we will continue to protect those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services pursuant to our criminal and civil enforcement of the FACE Act, 18 U.S.C. § 248.
The FACE Act prohibits the use or threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates, or interferes with a person seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services. It also prohibits intentional property damage of a facility providing reproductive health services. The department has consistently obtained criminal and civil remedies for violations of the FACE Act since it was signed into law in 1994, and it will continue to do so now.
The department will provide support from federal law enforcement when an abortion clinic or reproductive health center is under attack. We have reached out to U.S. Attorneys' Offices and FBI field offices in Texas and across the country to discuss our enforcement authorities.
We will not tolerate violence against those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services, physical obstruction or property damage in violation of the FACE Act.
General Observations
My blog posts usually are devoted to insurance matters. However, the Texas abortion law is so outrageous that I decided to comment on it.

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Friday, September 10, 2021

No. 437: The Securities and Exchange Commission Files a Civil Lawsuit Against Several Investment Promoters

On August 20, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil lawsuit in federal court in San Antonio against Robert J. Mueller (Mueller) and several other investment promoters. The defendants allegedly persuaded investors, many of whom are retirees, to cash out annuities and individual retirement accounts they held with other investment companies and invest in funds promoted by the defendants. (See SEC v. Mueller et al., U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, Case No. 5:21-cv-785.)

The SEC Complaint
The SEC complaint (24 pages) contains eight counts alleging violations of federal securities laws. The SEC seeks a permanent injunction, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, and payment of a civil penalty.

The Judge
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Xavier Rodriguez. President George W. Bush nominated him, and he assumed office on August 1, 2003.

General Observations
This case is in its very early stages. The defendants have not yet filed an answer to the complaint. I plan to report significant developments.

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Friday, September 3, 2021

No. 436: More on the $97 Million Regulatory Settlement Imposed on TIAA

In No. 434 (August 18, 2021), I reported on the $97 million regulatory settlement imposed on The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the New York State Attorney General (NYAG). On August 20, I received an email from a former Wealth Management Advisor (WMA) at TIAA. In response to that email, I sent the former WMA links to three earlier blog posts about developments at TIAA. The purpose of this follow-up is to share those three earlier posts with other readers. In each of the posts, I offered a complimentary package of additional material; those packages remain available upon request.

The Earlier Blog Posts
The first of the earlier blog posts is No. 68 (September 22, 2014) entitled "TIAA, Moody's, and Surplus Notes." In it, I offered the September 2014 TIAA package.

The second of the earlier blog posts is No. 240 (November 9, 2017) entitled "TIAA-CREF Under the Microscope." In it, I offered the November 2017 TIAA package.

The third of the earlier blog posts is No. 321 (July 9, 2019) entitled "TIAA Is Exiting the Life Insurance Business." In it, I offered the July 2019 TIAA package.

More on Surplus Notes
Surplus notes have a long and interesting history in the insurance business in the United States. TIAA and The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (Milwaukee, WI) were the last two holdouts against what became the widespread use of these extraordinary financial instruments.

My 2015 book entitled The Insurance Forum: A Memoir contains a chapter devoted to the subject of surplus notes. For readers who might be interested, here is a link to Chapter 25.

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Friday, August 27, 2021

No. 435: Ohio National Is the Defendant in a Job Discrimination Lawsuit

The Modified Work Schedule
Jessica Walker (Walker), an Ohio resident, was employed by Ohio National Financial Services. Inc. (Ohio National) from July 7, 2012 to July 31, 2017. In 2017, Ohio National announced it would implement a modified full-time work schedule that would be available to some employees. It was Walker's understanding that the modified work schedule was to benefit female employees with young children. In July 2017, Walker expressed concerns about the modified work schedule not being offered to all similarly situated employees.

The Meeting
On Friday, July 28, 2017, Walker met with several Ohio National officials to discuss her concerns. During the meeting, Walker said that, if the company did not offer the same work schedule to all similarly situated employees, she would likely contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to determine if the disparate treatment would be unlawful. On Monday, July 31, 2017, Ohio National terminated Walker's employment.

The Lawsuit
On April 13, 2021, Walker received a "right to sue" letter from the Indianapolis office of the EEOC. On July 1, Walker filed a job discrimination lawsuit against Ohio National in federal court in Ohio. The "right to sue" letter is attached to the complaint as an exhibit. The complaint and exhibits are here. In her complaint, Walker said she had exhausted her administrative remedies by filing a charge of retaliation with the EEOC alleging that the company had terminated her employment because she had indicated her intent to contact the EEOC. (See Walker v. Ohio National, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio, Case No. 1:21-cv-448.)

The One Claim for Relief
Walker's complaint contains one claim for relief. She alleges that Ohio National's actions constitute retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She seeks lost wages, fringe benefits, compensatory and punitive damages, and attorney fees and costs.

The Judge
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Donald R. Cole. President Trump nominated him in May 2019. The Senate confirmed him in December 2019.

General Observations
This lawsuit is in its early stages. I think it is likely that the case will be settled. I plan to report significant developments.

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