After slipping in under the radar for years, insurance companies have emerged as a significant target for class-action lawsuits.
What a difference a year or two makes.
According to the 2015 Carlton Fields Jorden Burt Class Action, insurance accounted for 6 per cent of all class action lawsuits filed in 2014 and 5.5 per cent of spending.
It was the first time insurance appeared on the list.
“The actual theme of any particular suit will vary depending upon the nature of the sales practice or the policy,” James F. Jorden, senior partner at the firm said to Insurance News Net.
Generally, lawsuits involving life insurance centre on a few points, according to Jorden: disclosure issues associated with annuity and life products, revisions to contracts and pricing methodology, long-term care policy adjustments, and suitability issues and asset management issues.
Data privacy, another issue that is of concern for insurance companies and advisors, also emerged as the subject of a “significant volume” of class action suits in 2014, accounting for 4.2 per cent.
“While data privacy matters currently represent a small portion of class actions, when corporate counsel were asked what area they saw as the next wave, they most often identified data privacy,” the report found.
Data security matters are poised for growth thanks to increasing hacker activity, more frequent internal protocol and security lapses, and continuing business and consumer sensitivity regarding use and sharing of data.
According to the 2015 Carlton Fields Jorden Burt Class Action, insurance accounted for 6 per cent of all class action lawsuits filed in 2014 and 5.5 per cent of spending.
It was the first time insurance appeared on the list.
“The actual theme of any particular suit will vary depending upon the nature of the sales practice or the policy,” James F. Jorden, senior partner at the firm said to Insurance News Net.
Generally, lawsuits involving life insurance centre on a few points, according to Jorden: disclosure issues associated with annuity and life products, revisions to contracts and pricing methodology, long-term care policy adjustments, and suitability issues and asset management issues.
Data privacy, another issue that is of concern for insurance companies and advisors, also emerged as the subject of a “significant volume” of class action suits in 2014, accounting for 4.2 per cent.
“While data privacy matters currently represent a small portion of class actions, when corporate counsel were asked what area they saw as the next wave, they most often identified data privacy,” the report found.
Data security matters are poised for growth thanks to increasing hacker activity, more frequent internal protocol and security lapses, and continuing business and consumer sensitivity regarding use and sharing of data.
