Lincoln Financial lawsuits over the past decade fall into four main groups: cost-of-insurance class actions from life insurance policyholders, securities litigation brought by investors after a $2.6 billion quarterly loss in 2022, a federal settlement over life insurance death benefits Lincoln had improperly denied, and a steady stream of individual disability-claim cases. Each affects a different group of people, and each is at a different stage.
Cost-of-Insurance Class Action Settlements
Two class actions have accused Lincoln of improperly raising the internal “cost of insurance” charges deducted from universal life insurance policies.
The larger case, Glover v. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company (No. 3:16-cv-00827-MPS, D. Conn.), covers current and former owners of flexible premium adjustable life insurance policies issued or administered by Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, or their predecessors from May 27, 2010, onward. Lincoln agreed to fund a $147.5 million settlement. The court granted final approval, but an objector’s appeal has held up payments. An appeal hearing is scheduled for May 15, 2026, at the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse in New York, and no distributions will go out until the appeals process finishes.1Lincoln COI Settlement. Glover v. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company Settlement
An earlier settlement covered policies issued between 1983 and 2007 and created a fund of up to $117,750,000, approved by a federal judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.22016 and 2017 COI Settlement. Lincoln National COI Settlement Class members did not need to file a claim. JND Legal Administration mailed checks on April 8, 2024, calculated in proportion to the cost-of-insurance amounts collected on each policy through September 30, 2022, with a minimum payment of $200 per policy.32016 and 2017 COI Settlement. Lincoln National COI Settlement FAQ
If you owned a Lincoln universal life policy in either window, the relevant question is which settlement your policy falls under. The 1983–2007 settlement has already paid out. The Glover money will not move until the appeal is resolved.
The 2022 Reserve Charge and the Investor Cases
In November 2022, Lincoln Financial disclosed a $2.2 billion increase in life insurance reserves and a $634 million goodwill reduction, producing a $2.6 billion net loss for the third quarter.4ThinkAdvisor. Lincoln Financial Posts $2.6B Loss on Reserve and Goodwill Changes Lincoln attributed the reserve charge to data showing that policyholders age 75 and older were keeping their guaranteed universal life policies at much higher rates than the company had assumed. The goodwill writedown was tied to declines in the variable universal life business and higher discount rates. The hit reduced statutory capital by roughly $550 million and dropped Lincoln’s risk-based capital ratio by 22 points.5SEC EDGAR. Lincoln National Corporation Q3 2022 Earnings Release
Federal Securities Class Action
Investors sued in Meade v. Lincoln National Corporation (No. 2:24-cv-01704, E.D. Pa.), alleging that between November 4, 2020, and November 2, 2022, Lincoln and its executives made false or misleading statements about lapse rates, reserves, goodwill, and the health of the variable universal life business.6SEC EDGAR. Lincoln National Corporation Legal Proceedings The court appointed Local 295 IBT Employer Group Pension Trust Fund as lead plaintiff in October 2024.
On July 24, 2025, Judge John F. Murphy granted Lincoln’s motion to dismiss the amended complaint without prejudice, finding that the plaintiffs had not adequately alleged the challenged statements were false or that executives acted with intent to deceive.7Levi & Korsinsky LLP. Eastern District of Pennsylvania Dismisses Lincoln National Securities Claims Without Prejudice Rather than amend, the lead plaintiff opted to appeal. The court entered judgment for the defendants on August 28, 2025, and the plaintiff filed a notice of appeal to the Third Circuit on September 25, 2025.8SEC EDGAR. Lincoln National Corporation Legal Proceedings
Derivative and State-Court Suits
Two federal stockholder derivative suits, Hollin v. Cooper and Wiersum v. Cooper, were filed in mid-2024 and consolidated in September 2024. Judge Murphy stayed all activity until 30 days after the resolution of any motion to dismiss and appeal in Meade, and no docket activity has occurred since.9CourtListener. In Re Lincoln National Corporation Stockholder Derivative Litigation
In state court, two individual shareholders filed breach-of-fiduciary-duty and unjust-enrichment cases in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas in Pennsylvania. Anthony Morgan filed on December 30, 2024, and Harry Rosenthal on January 3, 2025. Both name Lincoln National Corporation along with current and former executives, including CEO Ellen Cooper and former CEO Dennis Glass, and allege leadership knew about declining variable universal life performance as early as 2020 but did not disclose it for two years.10ThinkAdvisor. Lincoln Financial Hit With Investor Lawsuits in State Court
Department of Labor Settlement Over Denied Death Benefits
In June 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration announced a settlement with Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, Lincoln National Corporation, and Lincoln Life & Annuity Company of New York over employer-sponsored life insurance plans governed by ERISA.11U.S. Department of Labor. Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. Settlement
Investigators found that Lincoln had collected premiums from plan participants for months or years without ever obtaining the required “evidence of insurability” — proof the participant was in good health. When a participant died and a beneficiary filed a claim, Lincoln would deny the death benefit, citing paperwork it had never gathered.11U.S. Department of Labor. Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. Settlement
The settlement imposed hard limits on that practice. Lincoln cannot deny a beneficiary’s claim for lack of evidence of insurability if the company has been receiving premiums for three months or more. It can only request evidence of insurability within the first year of receiving a participant’s premium payments. It cannot consider a health condition that developed after it first received a participant’s premium. And Lincoln voluntarily agreed to reprocess claims going back to March 2018 that had been denied solely for missing evidence of insurability.11U.S. Department of Labor. Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. Settlement
If a beneficiary’s claim was denied in that window on that ground, the reprocessing obligation is the one to raise with the insurer.
The 2017 New York Consent Order
The death-benefit problems had a longer history. In March 2017, the New York Department of Financial Services entered a $52.2 million agreement with Lincoln National Corporation and its New York subsidiary. Of that, $50.7 million went to policyholders as restitution and $1.5 million was a civil penalty.12New York Department of Financial Services. DFS Fines Lincoln Financial Group $52.2 Million
The problems traced to Lincoln’s 2006 acquisition of Jefferson-Pilot Corporation. After consolidating claims-processing systems, Lincoln lost track of thousands of life insurance and annuity policies. An internal audit flagged the errors to senior executives as early as June 2008, but the backlog persisted for six years, and Lincoln waited 10 months after finding the problem before telling regulators. The consent order required Lincoln to keep identifying affected beneficiaries, pay valid claims with interest, and test claims-processing compatibility in any future merger before integrating systems.13New York Department of Financial Services. Consent Order — Lincoln National Corporation and Lincoln Life and Annuity Company of New York
Disability Claim Denials
Lincoln Financial is among the most frequently sued disability insurers in the country. It administers short- and long-term disability plans, most of them employer-sponsored and governed by ERISA. That matters because ERISA generally limits judicial review to the evidence the insurer had when it made its decision, which makes the administrative appeal stage, before any lawsuit is filed, the critical part of the process.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers have identified recurring patterns. Lincoln often relies on paper-only reviews by third-party medical consultants who never examine the claimant. Denials frequently cite a lack of “objective evidence” for conditions like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, or migraines. Reviewers have been criticized for focusing on isolated normal findings while setting aside the restrictions treating physicians document. Reported individual recoveries include $243,000 for a Maryland doctor, $181,000 for a college worker, and $175,000 for a California woman whose long-term benefits had been terminated.14Sokolov Law. Lincoln Financial Group Disability Insurance Denial
Rulings That Help Claimants
In Collier v. Lincoln Life Assurance Company of Boston, 53 F.4th 1180 (9th Cir. 2022), the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court that had ruled for Lincoln on arguments the insurer raised for the first time in litigation, arguments Vicki Collier never had a chance to address during the administrative review. The court held that under ERISA, a reviewing court may only consider the reasons the insurer actually gave when it denied the claim, not new rationales offered in court.15United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Collier v. Lincoln Life Assurance Co. of Boston In 2024, the Third Circuit ordered reinstatement of long-term disability benefits for a coal miner, holding that Lincoln had not adequately shown the claimant could perform alternative work under the policy’s “any occupation” standard.14Sokolov Law. Lincoln Financial Group Disability Insurance Denial
Where Things Stand
As of late 2025, the Glover cost-of-insurance settlement is on hold pending an appeal set for May 2026. The Meade securities dismissal is under appeal at the Third Circuit, and the consolidated derivative litigation stays paused until that appeal ends. The Delaware County state-court investor suits are in early stages. Individual disability lawsuits continue to be filed at a regular pace, and the DOL settlement’s reprocessing obligations remain the most direct path for beneficiaries whose death-benefit claims were denied for missing evidence of insurability since March 2018.