Opinion ID: 4536657
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The TVPX Class Action

Text: TVPX purchased a Genworth life insurance policy for Lucius Whitaker in 2017. The policy was originally issued in 1984, with Arlene Whitaker as the policy owner and Lucius Whitaker as the insured. In 2018, TVPX filed a putative class action against Genworth in the Eastern District of Virginia, alleging that Genworth had breached its insurance policies by failing to calculate COI rates in accordance with mortality expectations. In TVPX’s original complaint, it alleged that Genworth had “left its COI rates unchanged for decades,” notwithstanding the fact that mortality expectations had improved significantly. The complaint cited “mortality tables” published by the Society of Actuaries and the American 6 Case: 19-11178 Date Filed: 05/26/2020 Page: 7 of 21 Academy of Actuaries which showed that mortality rates that improved at a rate of roughly 1% each year over the past three decades. TVPX asserted that, “[d]espite these continuously improved mortality expectations . . . Genworth has never once lowered the COI rates it charges its customers. TVPX amended its complaint, and the new complaint largely mirrored its original complaint, with two key differences. First, the amended complaint narrowed the class period to the five years leading up to the amended complaint, i.e. from 2013 through 2018. Second, TVPX deleted its allegation that Genworth had “left its COI rates unchanged for decades,” and instead charged that Genworth actually increased its COI rates from 2013 through 2018, even though mortality expectations improved during that same time period.