MDL-1102 - Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada Sales Practices Litigation

  • MDL-1102 - LC - IN RE: Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada Sales Practices Litigation
    • Document 92 - Opinion - 9p
  • 1995 - LC -
    • Civ. No. 2:95-05723 (WJM)
    • Opinion - 9p
    • re: Dorothy S. Curhan v. Sun Life Financial,Opinion (after Main Case) - Document 92 - Filed: 07/02/13 - 9p
      • Martin E. Steinberg (original lawsuit)
      • 2013 - LC - Dorothy S. Curhan v. Sun Life Financial
        • Civil Action No. 201300035B
        • Superior Court of Massachusetts.
      • Vanishing Premium
      • Mrs. Curhan received a letter from Sun Life dated November 25, 2011
      • On April 6, 2012, Mrs. Curhan’s lawyer, Howard M. Miller, sent a letter to Sun Life.
      • [Bonk: ...more letters]
      • Second, Mrs. Curhan suggests that the Injunction only covers vanishing premium policies because the Amended Complaint’s factual allegations are limited to vanishing premium policies. Accordingly, because the Policy was not a vanishing premium policy, Mrs. Curhan argues that the Injunction does not cover the Policy.
        • This reasoning is flawed.
  • The sale of par business on a vanishing-premium basis has been well established in the last few years.
  • Dividend reductions can lead to unpleasant surprises, to the extent that policyholders and agents have relied on a continuation of the current dividend scale to fund the vanish year.
    • Prudence and recent history suggest that vanish years should be carefully explained, and perhaps illustrated, with some margin for dividend reduction.
  • Companies and agents that are service-oriented will find ways to communicate to policyholders changes in their vanish year before the arrival of a surprise announcement that more money is necessary or that the insurance program will either pay less than expected or terminate prematurely.

--  Robert J. Smardon, Vice President of Individual Products for the U.S. operations of Sun Life of Canada

1991 - SOA - Life Products, Society of Actuaries - 22p