Class Action Suit Filed Against Bankers Life

April 4, 2013 in U.S. District Court in Portland

Plaintiff:

Lorraine and Charles Bates; Eileen Burk, and David Youngbluth

Defendant:

Bankers Life and Casualty Company, CDOC, Inc., CNO Financial Group, Inc., Conesco Life Insurance Company of Texas, Doe Corporations I-X and James D Peterson

Case Number:

3:2013cv00580

Details:

The four plaintiffs filed the suit against Bankers Life on the grounds that the insurance company committed elder abuse by wrongfully denying and delaying long-term care insurance claims and raising premiums without improving benefits. The suit also alleges breach of contract, breach of promises, fraud, negligence and intentional misconduct.

The suit is currently seeking a judge’s approval to represent a class of 9,000 people in the state of Oregon.

According to Lorraine Bates, Bankers Life claimed the adult foster home Bates moved into in 2009 didn’t match policy requirements. The Oregon Insurance Division, however, said in 2011 that Bankers would pay her claim, 19 months after she first filed it.

David Youngbluth decided to take legal action after trying to file a claim for his mother in 2008, who moved into assisted living after a fall. According to Youngbluth, Bankers still owes him three months’ worth of unpaid benefits.

The lawsuit also claims that Bankers sold policies without disclosing large premium hikes without a similar increase in benefits. According to Eileen Burk, her premiums nearly doubled in 2010.