 |
|
Welcome to the Insurance Brokerage Antitrust Litigation, Zurich Settlement Website
This website provides general information on a class action settlement that affects the rights of all persons who engaged the services of any of the Broker Defendants in connection with one or more purchase(s) or renewal(s) of commercial insurance or reinsurance from any of the Zurich Insurers, OR from any of the Insurer Defendants OR from any insurance company that is not an affiliate or subsidiary of a Zurich Insurer AND/OR engaged the services of any other broker in connection with one or more purchase(s) or renewal(s) of commercial insurance or reinsurance from any of the Zurich insurers during the period from August 26, 1994 through September 1, 2005, inclusive. Please see the Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement, Settlement Hearing and Right to Appear, and Claim Form ("Notice Packet") on the link on the left for a listing of all Broker Defendants, Zurich Insurers and Insurer Defendants. This settlement has been reached with the Zurich Insurers (the "Zurich Settlement") in a class action lawsuit alleging violations of federal and state antitrust laws, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and common law arising out of (i) practices by which certain insurers provided quotations to policyholders and prospective policyholders through certain brokers in connection with the placement and renewal of insurance contracts and (ii) contracts, agreements, arrangements and understandings about the payment of commissions that are contingent upon, among other things, a broker placing a particular number of policies or dollar value of premium with the insurer. Zurich denies the allegations and denies any and all liability, but has agreed to a cash settlement of over 121 million dollars.
A hearing before the Court was held on January 26, 2007, in order to determine the adequacy of the proposed settlement with the Zurich and related matters described in the Notice Packet. On February 16, 2007, the Court approved the Zurich Settlement. Several objectors to the Zurich Settlement filed appeals from the Court's order approving the Zurich Settlement. On April 20, 2009, the appellate court heard argument on the appeal. On September 8, 2009, the appellate court affirmed the order approving the Zurich Settlement. The proceeds of the Zurich Settlement cannot be distributed until the judgment is final, which is subject to whether there are further appeals. Assuming there are no further appeals, it is anticipated that the Settlement funds will be distributed by the end of the second quarter, 2010, so long as the distribution is approved by the Court. If you are a Settlement Class Member who purchased or renewed one or more policies issued by Zurich, you will NOT have to do anything to receive the benefits under the Zurich Settlement Agreement regarding your Zurich policies. However, if your address has changed since you purchased or renewed your Zurich policy, please contact the Settlement Administrator. If you are a Settlement Class Member also or solely because you purchased or renewed one or more commercial insurance or reinsurance policies issued by a non-Zurich insurance company through a Broker Defendant, you should have submitted a Claim Form (see link at left) to be considered for a payment to the Settlement Administrator at the address listed in the Notice with a postmark date of no later than June 12, 2007. If you now wish to submit a Claim Form to the Settlement Administrator, contact the Settlement Administrator at 1-866-722-3544 or at zurichadmin@completeclaimsolutions.com. There is no guarantee however that the Court will accept your Claim Form. Settlement Class Members had the right to file an objection to the Settlement and to exclude oneself from the Class. Objections and Requests for Exclusion needed to be postmarked by January 11, 2007. This deadline has passed.
Deficiency letters regarding certain Claim Forms were mailed on January 8,
2009. A deficiency letter was mailed to those Claimants that filed Claim Forms
for the conspiracy portion of their claim (non-Zurich policies purchased
through a named Broker Defendant) which Claim Form was missing critical
information, making it deficient in some way. Responses to deficiency letters
should have been postmarked no later than February 9, 2009.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||