Allstate Retiree Life Insurance Benefits Lawsuit
Former Employee Agents
Allstate Insurance Company Sued by Company Retirees
Sept. 30, 2013, press release, Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Sept. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Allstate retiree Garnet Turner is suing the insurer to protect the life insurance benefit he claims he was promised. Turner, a resident of Montgomery, Alabama, and a 32–year veteran Allstate agent, was notified by Allstate in July that the benefit would be cancelled in 2015.
Turner, who retired in the 1990s, filed suit after receiving that news. He is represented by the national law firm Heninger Garrison Davis. HGD partner Lew Garrison blames the company for trying to boost its bottom line on the backs of retirees. “Allstate should not profit from broken promises to its most productive and important employees,” he said. “These folks worked hard for years and sold a lot of Allstate policies, and they rely on the company to maintain the retirement benefits promised.”
Turner began working for Allstate as an agent in 1963 and received several awards and honors over the decades. On retirement, as a benefit, he was promised a $90,000 life insurance policy for the rest of his life, at no charge to him, according to his attorneys.
The cancelation of the benefit coincides with a cost-cutting campaign by Allstate. The Chicago Tribune, in a report in July, the same month Allstate notified Turner, called the cost-cutting a top priority of the company. Turner’s attorneys filed the suit in response. It is a class action for all retirees affected.
More is at stake than a broken promise, the attorneys say. Retirees like Turner, in view of their age, likely cannot get replacement insurance. HGD attorney Taylor Bartlett, who also represents Turner, explains: “Based on Allstate’s promise, Turner and other retirees chose not to purchase fixed-cost life insurance at a younger age when such insurance was reasonably priced. These retirees cannot find life insurance today at reasonable rates and may be forced out of their coverage as a result.”
More information on the suit may be found on the Chicago Tribune webpage, at http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-09-26/business/ and at www.allstatelawsuit.com.
Turner’s suit is Turner v. Allstate Insurance Co., 2:13-cv-00685-MEF, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.
Heninger Garrison Davis is headquartered in Birmingham with offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles, New Jersey, New York and Washington, D.C. and focuses on Business Litigation, Class Actions and Mass Torts, Intellectual Property and Personal Injury. Please visit http://hgdlawfirm.com to learn more about the firm.
SOURCE: Copyright (C) 2013 PR Newswire. All rights reserved
CASE UPDATES: Please read from bottom to top for a chronology of case updates; most of the following are excerpts from the website AllstateLawsuit.com which is maintained by the plaintiff attorney.
UPDATE: 05/17/2023: We invite you to read this brief. It chronicles the history of the case and presents our arguments why we believe the order by Judge Marks is tainted and should not stand.
UPDATE: 10/1/2017: The court has not yet ruled on briefs submitted by both sides regarding class certification.
UPDATE: 12/1/2016: The case has been set for trial on February 26, 2018 in Birmingham, AL. The Uniform Scheduling Order notes several important dates for 2017, including motions for class certification which must be filed by May 18, 2017.
UPDATE: 9/27/2016: Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC has announced that the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Alabama has denied defendant Allstate Insurance Company’s motion to dismiss the Turner Plaintiffs’ Complaint. The Court’s order is located here. Accordingly, the case will proceed. The case is actively in discovery.
Related media coverage: Allstate Can’t Nix Retirees’ ERISA Lawsuit Over Lifetime Benefits
Allstate ceased paying for retiree life insurance benefits for all unnamed Plaintiffs effective January 1, 2016.
UPDATE: 12/29/2015: The Court issued an order granting the named Plaintiffs in the Turner and Klaas actions preliminary relief. The Court limited this preliminary relief to the 17 named Plaintiffs listed in the Second Amended Complaint. The Court denied the preliminary relief as to unnamed Plaintiffs. Read the order here.
UPDATE: 11/18/2015: Plaintiffs filed a preliminary injunction asking the Court to order Allstate to continue paying their promised life insurance benefits until the case is resolved. The motion for injunction and the motion to dismiss are set for hearing before the court on December 18, 2015 in Montgomery, Alabama.
UPDATE: 8/20/2015: A similar case, filed in Florida by a group of former home office employees who had accepted Allstate’s Special Retirement Opportunity (SRO) offer in 1995, has been consolidated with Turner.
UPDATE: 09/30/2014: Plaintiffs file Second Amended Complaint.
If you or someone you know are being affected by Allstate’s decision to cancel its promised retiree life insurance benefits, you may want to contact the law firm directly for more information. This lawsuit may include agents, claims and other employees retired since 1990.
To learn more, go to www.allstatelawsuit.com or contact:
Taylor Bartlett
Taylor@hgdlawfirm.com
Heninger Garrison Davis
2224 First Avenue North
Birmingham, AL 35203
205-326-3336 / Toll Free: 800-241-9779
NAPAA has provided this notice for informational purposes only. The contents of this notice should not be construed as legal advice or an endorsement from NAPAA or its attorneys, and NAPAA expressly disclaims any such advice.
The views expressed by NAPAA, or any of its positions relative to its activities and those of its members’ actions on behalf of this organization, are expressly those of NAPAA, and do not reflect the views or opinions of Allstate Insurance Company, or any of its affiliates.