Allstate Retirees Lose Challenge to Life Insurance Termination

Allstate Insurance Co. defeated a pair of proposed class actions over its decision to terminate retiree life insurance coverage, when a federal judge in Alabama ruled that the company’s benefit plan documents included unambiguous language reserving the right to modify coverage.

The retirees, who challenged the 2013 termination of their company-paid life insurance under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, don’t have a vested right to benefits because the relevant plan documents specifying Allstate’s right to change coverage trump statements the insurer may have made in other communications, Chief Judge Emily C. Marks of the U.S. District Court for the ...