Adkins, Kelston & Zavez, PC
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Goldstein ET AL v. Savings Bank Life Ins. Co. of Massachusetts (“SBLI”)As of April 2011, this case has been fully resolved and all claims paid to Class Members, with the balance of unclaimed funds (totaling $54,532.58) having been paid in equal amounts per order of the Court to the two cy pres designees: Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MassPIRG) and the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance (MAHA). On May 20, 2010, the Superior Court granted final approval for the settlement of this Class Action lawsuit. In September, 2010, the Court-appointed Settlement Administrator mailed the Settlement Payment checks (and for some current policyholders, oversaw the crediting of Paid-Up Additions and/or contributions to Dividend Accumulation Accounts) to the 400,000 Class Members comprising the Class. In addition, each Class Member was sent a letter that stated the amount of the Settlement Payment they were receiving (or were being credited for) and on what policies. Information about the Settlement was available on a dedicated website (since discontinued). The settlement resolved a lawsuit that began in May 1998 that involved claims by the plaintiff-policyholders that SBLI had underpaid annual dividends on their policies as well as Special Dividends required as a result of SBLI’s 1992 reorganization. Under the terms of prior Court rulings, policyholders entitled to receive a settlement dividend are limited to owners (or their beneficiaries or eligible heirs) of (a) policies in effect during the period from December 31, 2000 to December 31, 2002 that paid dividends (the “Main Class”), or (b) policies issued prior to 1992 that were entitled to Special Dividends as the result of SBLI’s reorganization in 1992 (the “Subclass”). In sum, the Plaintiffs and SBLI agreed to settle this lawsuit with SBLI’s payment of $18,675,330 plus the costs of sending the Class Notice and administering the settlement for a total settlement value of $21.5 million as determined by Plaintiffs. A Settlement Fund was created containing $15,000,000, which is in addition to the $3,675,330 already paid in 2005 to a subset – called a Subclass – of policyholders in the case. After the payment of attorneys’ fees and expenses to Plaintiffs’ Class Counsel and the three Class Representative awards granted by the Court, the remainder of the Settlement Fund was paid, on a pro rata basis, as settlement dividends to the 400,000 owners of the approximately 515,000 policies in the Class. As part of the settlement, all Class Members released their claims against SBLI. Current and former policyholders in the Class who received the Class Notice (and otherwise updated their address) were sent their Settlement payments. No claim form was required. SBLI has denied the allegations in this lawsuit from the outset, maintaining in the litigation that it paid dividends consistent with all its legal requirements. The settlement contains no admission of liability by SBLI.
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