Insurance Company Settles Bias Suit
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A court approved a $1.1 million settlement Monday between a Charleston insurance company and about 30,000 policyholders who say they paid higher premiums because they are black.
Atlantic Coast Life Insurance Co. agreed to the settlement last year. The approval Monday ends two years of negotiation between the company and black policyholders.
The policyholders sued on behalf of all blacks who had overpaid for policies from 1925, when Atlantic Coast opened, to the 1960s, when the company stopped using different premium tables based on race.
Policyholders and those who received claims on or after July 17, 1989, will have their benefits increased by 12 percent to 18 percent. Anyone with claims paid before that can request up to $100,000 in increased benefits.
Several other companies, including MetLife Inc. and Life Insurance Co. of Georgia, have reached similar settlements with black policyholders.