MetLife Will Pay $7.5 Million To Settle Florida Investigation.Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. has agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle allegations in Florida that its agents misled mis·led v. Past tense and past participle of mislead. customers during the 1980s and 1990s, the Florida Department Florida is a department (departamento) of Uruguay. Population and Demographics As of the census of 2004, there were 68,181 people and 21,938 households in the department. The average household size was 3.1. For every 100 females, there were 100.4 males. of Insurance said. The settlement follows an investigation of MetLife that began in May 1997 as part of a larger probe of insurers' sales tactics, which included allegations of "churning Firing one group of employees and hiring another. As companies move into newer, high-tech ventures, they often eliminate employees with older skills while bringing on new people who have computer programming, networking and Web experience. ." In churning, agents improperly encouraged policyholders to finance new policies by drawing on the cash value of existing policies. The settlement reached by MetLife, Florida Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson and state Attorney General Bob Butterworth Robert A. Butterworth (born August 20, 1942) is an American attorney and politician from the U.S. state of Florida. Early life and career Butterworth was born in Passaic, New Jersey, and moved to Florida with his family as a child. also calls for MetLife to cooperate with a state insurance outreach program. The program helps Florida policyholders take part in MetLife's separate $1.7 billion national classaction settlement. The agreement falls in line with the class-action settlement, MetLife spokesman John Calagna said. "The company does not admit any wrongdoing wrong·do·er n. One who does wrong, especially morally or ethically. wrong  do in either case," he said. MetLife fully cooperated
with the investigation, Florida and company officials said.
In 1998, MetLife became a charter member of the Insurance Marketplace Standards Association, created for life insurance companies in the wake of the market conduct issues that developed in the 1980s and 1990s. The insurance department is seeking a legislative budget amendment that would funnel $7 million of MetLife's settlement into a scholarship fund for Florida colleges The high emphasis Florida College places on its Christian heritage is expressed in its tradition of daily chapel services. All members of the board of directors and all faculty members are required to be active members in a Church of Christ. and universities. Funds from settlements with Prudential Insurance Company of America and John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. also were used for college scholarships. The rest of the money would be used for investigative expenses and the department's outreach program. A federal judge approved MetLife's $1.7 billion settlement in December. The settlement, first reached in August, resolves three certified class-action suits Noun 1. class-action suit - a lawsuit brought by a representative member of a large group of people on behalf of all members of the group class action , a "couple of dozen" class-action suits that were pending certification, and "dozens and dozens" of individual lawsuits, MetLife said. |
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