Life Insurance Misconduct

Your policy promised stability and security . . .   It fell short.

If your life insurance policy—whether Universal, Indexed, Variable or Whole Life—underperformed or was misrepresented, you deserve answers. And justice.

Challenging Life Insurance Misconduct

When insurance companies shortchange you—on cost calculations, cash values, or basic disclosures—you can fight back.

Free initial consultations. 

No fees unless successful.     

Types of Policies Affected

Misconduct can occur in a range of permanent life insurance products, including:

  • Universal Life (UL)

  • Indexed Universal Life (IUL)

  • Variable Universal Life (VUL)

  • Whole Life (WL)

These types of policies often involve features like cash value accumulation, investment performance, and monthly charges—all subject to improper calculations or misrepresentations.

How Some Insurers & Agents Fall Short 

Life insurance companies and agents sometimes don’t meet our expectations.  They might fail to disclose, explain, properly administer or correctly calculate the contractual components of their policies. This can harm policies and policyholders.

Undisclosed Complexity: Many buyers simply don’t fully understand how their policies work with the various caps, floors, loans, cash value projections, etc.  This complexity increases dramatically if the policy is itself financed, i.e., the policyholder borrows money to pay the premiums.

Misleading Marketing: Overpromising benefits or understating risks, especially with overly optimistic illustrations. Many insurance policies are frequently touted as “safe retirement plans” with understated risks. This can lead to false expectations.

Suitability: Insurers and agents can sometimes fail to properly evaluate the suitability of a particular policy. Not all policies are suitable for everyone.

Premium Flexibility: While flexible premiums are a selling point, underfunding an IUL can cause the policy to lapse unexpectedly.

Deflated crediting gains: Applying improperly low gains, especially in indexed products, can leave policies with lower cash values.

Hidden Costs: Mortality charges, policy fees, and cost-of-insurance (COI) increases can erode a policies value over time. These items are frequently hidden or not prominently disclosed.

Insurer Discretion: Insurers have wide discretion to change crediting rates, caps, participation rates, and internal charges, sometimes with little warning. This discretion can dramatically impair policy performance in ways policyholders cannot control and frequently do not understand.

When these occur, policyholders can be harmed.  In some cases, the harms can be resolved with litigation. Policyholders can file a lawsuit against the insurance company or agent, either individually or as part of a class action, to try and recoup those injuries.

What May NOT Be Misconduct

It’s important to be realistic—not every disappointing outcome creates a legal claim.  Market downturns happen, policy charges can be legitimate and certain harmful conduct may be lawful. Examples of things that can happen but which may not be misconduct, can include:

· Market downturns affecting variable policies.

· Legitimate charges clearly disclosed in policy documents.

· Policies that lapse due to consistent and known underfunding.

That’s why a careful review is critical — to separate valid legal claims from ordinary market risk.

Why Choose Sarraf Gentile LLP?

Free Initial Consultations: Always.

Contingency Fees:  No hourly billing. We only get paid if we recover for you.

Experience & Expertise:  We’ve litigated nationwide insurance disputes, including class actions. Our attorneys have insider insurance industry experience.

Fearless Advocacy: We regularly face Fortune 500 opponents in high-stakes cases.

Client-Centered Approach:  We listen, communicate, and treat clients with empathy. Many clients become lifelong friends.

Collaborative Strength:  We co-counsel seamlessly with other firms when it benefits our clients.