N.Y. Federal Judge Preliminarily Approves $9.25 Million Cost of Insurance Settlement

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has preliminarily approved a $9.25 million settlement of a class action accusing a life insurer of imposing an improper “cost of insurance” rate increase on policyholders 20 years after the policies were sold to a different insurer via a reinsurance indemnity transaction.

On Feb. 3, Judge P. Kevin Castel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted lead plaintiff Helen Hanks’ motion, in which she argued that the proposed settlement with satisfies Civil Rule of Procedure 23(e)(2).

The settlement includes a $9.25 million payment by the …