“We look forward to telling the rest of the story to the jury,” said co-lead counsel Kathleen DeLaney.
Weisbrod Matteis & Copley PLLC and DeLaney & DeLaney LLC have secured an admission of pervasive breaches of contract in a nationwide class action lawsuit filed against CNO Financial Group, Inc. and CNO Services, LLC concerning insurance policy overcharges. The lawsuit concerns “LifeTrend” policies issued by a former CNO subsidiary, Conseco Life Insurance Company.
The case is Burnett, et al. v. Conseco Life Insurance Co., et al., and was filed in 2012. The suit previously was certified as a nationwide class action over CNO’s objection. Plaintiffs allege that CNO overcharged policyholders with massively increased premiums and “cost of insurance” charges that were not allowed under the policy terms. CNO’s actuaries planned for thousands of policyholders to surrender their policies rather than pay the overcharges. CNO’s actuaries carefully estimated how many policyholders would surrender in response to the overcharges. Just as CNO predicted, thousands of policyholders surrendered their policies. Policyholders lost tens of millions of dollars in valuable life insurance policies as a result.
From the filing of the lawsuit in 2012 until May 7, 2025, CNO adamantly denied any breach of the LifeTrend insurance contracts. But on May 7, 2025—a little over month before the scheduled jury trial in the case—CNO reversed itself and informed the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana that CNO now concedes that the LifeTrend policies were indeed breached. CNO admitted several major breaches. CNO admitted that it improperly increased charges known as “cost of insurance” charges, which the policies refer to as “mortality charges,” even though mortality rates in the United States were going down. CNO admitted that it passed prior financial losses onto the policyholders, which was not allowed under the policy terms. And CNO admitted that it did not provide required notices to warn policyholders about what their premiums and charges would be, as the policies required. CNO’s admissions apply to all class members.
A jury trial is set for June 16, 2025 on the issue of whether the now-admitted policy breaches caused the plaintiffs to surrender their policies and suffer damages. Although the policy surrenders by the class in response to the increased premiums and charges were predicted accurately by CNO before it made the changes, CNO denies that the breaches of the policies caused the plaintiffs or other class members to surrender their policies. And although CNO calculated the value of the surrendered policies using the same methodology that plaintiffs’ damages expert used to value them, CNO also denies that the plaintiffs and other class members were damaged. CNO also denies that it can be held liable for breaches of policies issued by former CNO subsidiary Conseco Life Insurance Company, which already has settled out of the case for $27 million. Those issues remain unresolved.
Plaintiffs contend that damages to the class total more than $70 million, taking into account prior settlement payments from Conseco Life Insurance Company.
“After vehemently denying wrongdoing for over a decade, and fighting us every step of the way, CNO finally realized it has no viable defense to plaintiffs’ claims of breach,” said co-lead counsel Stephen Weisbrod.
“We look forward to telling the rest of the story to the jury,” said co-lead counsel Kathleen DeLaney.
About Weisbrod Matteis & Copley PLLC
Weisbrod Matteis & Copley PLLC represents a wide array of plaintiffs in insurance recovery and other matters. The firm’s clients include private equity firms, product manufacturers, property owners, technology companies, government agencies, trusts, and many others. WMC has offices in the District of Columbia, Miami, Seattle, Jackson, and San Juan. For more information, please visit us online at www.wmclaw.com.
About DeLaney & DeLaney LLC
DeLaney & DeLaney LLC is an Indianapolis boutique litigation firm handling a variety of civil litigation matters including class actions, in Indiana’s federal and state trial and appellate courts. The firm is proud to have been recognized as an AV rated law firm by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell, and has been honored many times by Best Lawyers and SuperLawyers. For more information, please visit us online at www.delaneylaw.net.
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