On March 31, in Chambers v. N. American Co. for Life &
Health Ins., an action alleging RICO violations and other
claims in the sales of deferred annuities to seniors, the Southern
District of Iowa granted the insurer's motion for summary
judgment. Like many of the bonus annuity class actions brought in
the mid-2000s, the plaintiff in Chambers claimed that the
insurer misrepresented the terms of the bonus, that there were no
"sales fees," and that the interest adjustment applied to
partial surrenders. She also brought claims for violation of the
standard nonforfeiture law and alleged unjust enrichment.
A year ago, the district court denied her bid for certification
of a nationwide class. It held that plaintiff could not prove
causation via common proof — even if the varying written
materials were sufficiently uniform. The court found testimony that
the named plaintiffs did not read those materials, plus an informal
poll of class members, sufficient to show that there
