KC Life Insurance Co. Accused of Overcharging Policy Owners
Note: This post was originally published on June 19, 2019 and was updated on September 25, 2023 for comprehensiveness.
Jury Awards $9.5 Million to Kansas City Life Insurance Policy Owners – THIRD SUCCESSFUL CLASS ACTION TRIAL WIN AGAINST THE INSURER, STARTING WITH THE $28.4 MILLION VERDICT IN DECEMBER 2022.
Following a one-week trial, a Jackson County, Missouri jury returned a verdict in favor of a class of 535 Kansas City Life Insurance Company policyholders represented by Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP and Miller Schirger LLC. The substantial verdict follows verdicts in favor of policyholders in May 2023 and in December 2022.
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Kansas City Life Insurance Company alleging that Kansas City Life systematically overcharged policy owners for the cost of insurance and expense charges draining the cash values from their permanent life insurance. The unauthorized charges are comprised of hidden expenses – or “loads” – buried within the contractual policy charges that ultimately drain the policy’s cash value. Simply put: Money that should go to the policy owner’s savings is going instead to the insurance company. According to the lawsuit, the policies may become unaffordable, leaving policy owners without life insurance when it is needed the most.
These policies can be referred to in several ways:
- Premium adjusted death benefit
- Universal
- Variable universal
- Whole life
- Variable whole life
- Flexible premium
Improper overcharges and rate increases are a widespread problem in the life insurance industry, and they cost a typical policy owner significant money each month and year.
Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP and Miller Schirger, LLC, the law firms that filed the action, recently obtained a federal judgment against another life insurance company for more than $34 million, relating to similar policy overcharges. Collectively, the two firms have recovered more than $2 billion in cash relief and death benefits for life insurance policy owners nationwide. To learn more, visit www.lifeinsuranceproblems.com or call 888.816.2108.
Jury Awards $34MM to State Farm Policy Holders
