Lawrence Handorf; BlackOak Life Limited, as General Parter for BlackOak Investors LP; and PHT Holding II LP (“Plaintiffs”) have filed a lawsuit against Transamerica Life Insurance Company (“Defendant” or “Transamerica”) for allegedly imposing unlawful cost of insurance (“COI”) charges or monthly deduction rates (“MDR”) on certain universal life insurance policy owners. The allegations against Defendant are described in Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint filed with the Court on December 3, 2023. The lawsuit is called Handorf, et al. v. Transamerica Life Insurance Company, Case No. 1:23-cv-32. It is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa (the “Action”).
The Court has allowed the Action to proceed as a class action against Defendant on behalf of the following two Classes and two subclasses:
I. Past Losses Class: All owners of TransAdvantage, TransSavers, TransUltra 2K, TransUltra 1997, TransUltra LP, TransUltra LP 2005, TransValue, and TransValue 2002 issued or insured by Transamerica Life Insurance Company, or its predecessors, subjected to the monthly deduction rate and COI rate increases first announced in or after 2021.
Conversion Subclass: All members of the Past Losses Class, excluding owners of TransValue, TransUltra LP, and TransUltra LP 2005.
II. Uniformity Class: All owners of universal life policies issued or insured by Transamerica Life Insurance Company, or its predecessors out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and subjected to the monthly deduction rate and COI rate increases first announced in or after 2021, excluding owners of Bond Continuation, ISL Security Plus, Life Security, Premier Life, Security Plus II, Security Plus ISWL, Triple Protector, Ultima Simplified Protector, and Youth Protector.
Mortality Factor Subclass: All members of the Uniformity Class that own Agri-VIP, Bankers Universal Life, Horizon 2, HUB, HUB PA, Pacific Fidelity UL, Preferred Gold II, Preferred UL, Summit UL, Uni-VIP HUB, and Single Premium (plan codes UL1020, UL1021, UL1022, UL1A28, UL1036, and UL1037).
Excluded from each of the foregoing Classes and Subclasses are Defendant Transamerica Life Insurance Company, its officers and directors, members of their immediate families, and the heirs, successors or assigns of any of the foregoing; anyone employed with Plaintiffs’ counsel’s firms; any Judge to whom this case is assigned, and his or her immediate family; and any owners of policies issued in any foreign country, United States Territory, the Armed Forces, Alaska, New Mexico, and South Carolina (collectively, the “Excluded Members”).
Transamerica denies that it did anything wrong, and the Court has not decided whether any laws were broken. The Court has also denied a motion for partial summary judgment filed by Defendant against the named Plaintiffs, which was decided before the Classes were certified and with the agreement of the Defendant as to that timing. There is no money available now and no guarantee there ever will be. However, if you are a member of any of the Classes as described in this Notice, your rights are affected, and you have a choice to make now. Please read the Notice carefully and completely.
Summary Of Your Legal Rights And Options In This Settlement | Deadline | |
Do Nothing | Stay in this class action. Await the outcome. By doing nothing, the certification ruling means that any judgment in this case – whether favorable to Plaintiffs or Defendant – will bind all Class Members who do not timely elect to be excluded from the Classes in the manner described below. | No Deadline |
Opt-Out of the Lawsuit | Get out of this class action. Get no benefits but keep your right to bring a separate lawsuit. If you ask to be excluded, you will not be able to share in any money or benefits that may be awarded later. But you will keep any rights to sue Transamerica separately about the same issues as in this class action. If you choose to sue Transamerica separately, you will be responsible for your own lawyer’s fees and costs. | October 13, 2025 |
Upcoming Important Dates
Notification Mailing
8/29/2025
Exclusion Deadline
10/13/2025
Trial Date
1/20/2026