21st Services Announces it has Settled Lawsuit with Coventry First
MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- 21st Services is pleased to announce
that it has resolved the lawsuit between it and Coventry First. All claims
and counterclaims have been dismissed. 21st Services's insurer has paid an
undisclosed sum to Coventry. 21st Services does not admit to any wrongdoing
and makes this statement about the lawsuit and settlement.
21st Services entered the life expectancy estimation business in 1998,
using an estimation model developed in consultation with third-party
consultants. In 2004, 21st Services engaged two outside consulting firms to
analyze accumulated data from its life expectancy estimation model. Based on
the consultants' analysis and subsequent recommendations, as well as on
recommendations of its own director of medical underwriting, in January 2005
21st Services implemented substantial and material enhancements to its life
expectancy estimation model, which resulted in longer average life
expectancies in the aggregate. These changes included replacing its original
mortality table (the 1994 Tillinghast non-medical table) with the 2001
Valuation Basic Table, implementing an impaired-insured underwriting model
based on best practices found in the life insurance, long term care and life
settlement industries, and implementing a new mortality calculator engine to
better capture the mortality impact of minimally and substantially impaired
insureds.
The new life expectancy model implemented by 21st Services in 2005 relies
on a more current mortality table than the company's original model and also
adopts a more sophisticated impairment methodology for the assignment of
mortality debits and credits. This methodology is expected to result in more
accurate estimates of life expectancy and to enhance 21st Services' position
in the market. 21st Services strongly believes that accurate life expectancy
estimates are in the interest of all participants in the life settlement
market.
21st Services has asserted various counterclaims against Coventry. The
company's attorneys have concluded, after depositions and a review of
documents produced in discovery, that there is insufficient evidence to pursue
the counterclaims or to substantiate allegations that Coventry has acted to
the detriment of consumers.
Source: PRNewswire
