A preliminary agreement has been reached in a class action lawsuit against American Equity Investment Life Insurance Co. involving the sale of deferred annuities to seniors.
According to a statement from the Evans Law Firm, one of the law firms that represented the plaintiffs, the preliminary agreement was handed down last month in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, Western Division. It involved two class actions suits brought against American Equity Investment Life Insurance Co. for alleged deceptive sales practices in regards to the sale of deferred annuity products to senior citizens. The suit contended that the products were marketed to seniors without disclosing all the costs and risks associated with the annuities.
The case involved two separate class actions that were eventually combined into one. There is a California-only class that covered California residents at least 60 years old who purchased an American Equity deferred annuity between Jan. 3, 2000 and June 30, 2011. The second is a nationwide class consisting of non-California residents who purchased the product between Jan.3, 2000 and Dec. 31, 2009. Those plaintiffs were at least 65 years old at the time of purchase. All told, the proposed settlement encompasses more than 110,000 seniors, according to the Evans Law Firm.
