Loan Signing
The Delaware Supreme Court has awarded a partial victory to Genworth Financial in a case involving insurance coverage for costs associated with three class-action lawsuits.
The plaintiffs in the suits were consumers who said Genworth failed to warn them about future LTCI premium increases that were already planned when it increased their LTCI premiums.
If the customers had known about the looming premium increases, they might have picked different increase response options, according to a litigation summary provided in briefs filed with the Delaware Supreme Court.
Genworth settled the cases for amounts that were redacted in the briefs. The company paid $60,490,488 to the plaintiffs' lawyers.
AIG Specialty Insurance wrote Genworth's primary professional liability coverage. Three other insurers provided excess coverage. The insurers argued that they should not have to cover Genworth because Genworth's policy did not protect Genworth against the cost of returning premiums or against claims related to inadequate claim reserves.
The Delaware Superior Court found that the policy claims reserves exclusion did not bar coverage.
The Delaware Superior Court ruled in February 2025 that Genworth could not collect from its insurers for costs that could be considered return of premiums. The court held that Genworth could file a claim for the cost of making "non-forfeiture status" payments to class members who had stopped paying LTCI premiums and for the cost of making payments to the plaintiffs' class counsel.
Genworth noted in a brief filed with the court in November 2025 that the non-forfeiture status payment was $1,000 for plaintiffs in one class, $1,250 for plaintiffs in another class and $2,500 for plaintiffs in a third class.
A three-judge panel at the court issued an order Thursday that upheld the February 2025 ruling.
Genworth's lawyers estimated that the ruling could lead to more than $50 million in payments to Genworth.
"This is a great result for Genworth," Kenneth Frenchman, one of the attorneys who helped represent Genworth, said. Frenchman is the managing partner of Cohen Ziffer Frenchman & McKenna.
Representatives for Genworth's insurers could not immediately be reached for comment.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.