Chubb Unit’s $850,000 Benefits Interest Deal Clears Final Hurdle

An $850,000 class settlement resolving claims that Chubb Ltd. subsidiary ACE American Insurance Co. failed to pay required interest on accidental death benefit policies received final approval from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

The deal is slated to benefit 39 people who didn’t receive specified interest payments after their claim for accidental death benefits under an ACE policy was approved after an initial denial or failure to pay. The settlement resolves an Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit accusing the insurer of failing to honor policy terms allowing for 18% interest on benefits due in certain circumstances.

Judge Steven D. Grimberg granted final approval to the deal in an order docketed Wednesday. He also awarded class counsel $290,485 in attorneys’ fees and costs.

The lawsuit was filed by a former Delta Air Lines Inc. pilot whose wife died of cardiac complications caused by the interaction of prescribed medications. The couple was covered under an ACE policy that allegedly obligated the insurer to pay 18% interest per year on the benefits due if it didn’t meet certain conditions, including issuing a benefit determination within 15 days of receiving required paperwork.

After initially denying the pilot’s claim, ACE changed its determination more than a year later and paid him $1.2 million. But it refused to pay interest on the delayed payment, and this litigation ensued.

The class is represented by Schroeter Goldmark & Bender, Menzer Law Firm PLLC, and Buckley Beal LLP.

ACE is represented by Alston & Bird LLP.

The case is Mayfield v. ACE Am. Ins. Co., N.D. Ga., No. 1:19-cv-02425, settlement approval order docketed 2/9/22.