Tierney v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance

12 Mass. L. Rptr. 596
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedDecember 18, 2000
DocketNo. 000087BLS
StatusPublished

This text of 12 Mass. L. Rptr. 596 (Tierney v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tierney v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance, 12 Mass. L. Rptr. 596 (Mass. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

van Gestel, J.

This matter is before the Court on the parties’ cross motions for judgment on the pleadings and on the motion of the Hancock defendants to dismiss the amended complaint (hereafter the “complaint”). In Count I, plaintiffs seek judicial review pursuant to G.L.c. 30A, §14(7) of a decision by Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Linda Ruthardt (“Commissioner”) approving the plan (the “Plan”) of John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company (“JHM”) to convert from a privately held mutual insurance company to a publicly traded stock company. Plaintiffs; who are policyholders and ex-members of JHM, argue that in approving the conversion plan, the Commissioner failed to provide them with just compensation for their ownership and property rights in JHM. The plaintiffs seek to have the entire conversion plan set aside. [597]*597Specifically, plaintiffs allege that the Commissioner erred in her interpretation and application of G.L.c. 175, §19E, the Massachusetts mutual insurance company conversion law ("§19E”). All defendants respond that they are entitled to judgment on the pleadings because plaintiffs have failed to satisfy the G.L.c. 30A, §14(7) requirements for a Court to set aside or modify an administrative agency decision.

The complaint also includes claims against the Hancock defendants for breach of contract (Counts II through VII); breach of fiduciary duty (Count VIII); violation of G.L.c. 175, §19E (Count IX); and violation of G.L.c. 93A (Count X). The Hancock defendants have filed a motion to dismiss these counts of the complaint pursuant to Mass.R.Civ.P. Rule 12(b)(1) and (6), arguing that plaintiffs have no standing to bring them, that plaintiffs failed to exhaust their administrative remedies with regard to the issues raised, and that the complaint is moot.

For the following reasons, plaintiffs’ motion for judgment on the pleadings is DENIED and the Commissioner’s motion for judgment on the pleadings on Count I is ALLOWED. Accordingly, plaintiffs’ additional claims for relief against the Hancock defendants — based principally on the Commissioner’s approval of the demutualization Plan — are without merit. Thus, the Hancock defendants’ motion to dismiss is ALLOWED also.

THE ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD

The Massachusetts demutualization statute permits a mutual life insurance company to convert to a stock life insurance company. The law requires that the conversion plan be approved by the Commissioner of Insurance as “not prejudicial to the policyholders ... or the insuring public” and as providing “appropriate consideration” to each eligible policyholder in exchange for relinquishment of rights in the mutual companywhich is being converted. G.L.c. 175, §19E(1) and (2).

In 1998, JHM informed the Commissioner of its intent to convert from a privately held mutual insurance company, owned and controlled by its policyholders, to a publicly held corporation. Pursuant to §19E, the Commissioner authorized a working group (the “Working Group”) consisting of Division of Insurance (the “Division”) staff members and outside consultants to review all of JHM’s proposals on behalf of policyholders and the general public. The Division also retained outside legal, actuarial, accounting and financial experts to provide the Working Group with independent advice and assistance in evaluating the Plan. The actuarial firm of Tillinghast-Towers Penn reviewed the provisions regarding allocations to eligible policyholders and the maintenance of reasonable policyholder dividend expectations; the accounting firm of Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP conducted a financial due diligence examination and monitored policyholder voting procedures and JHM’s preparations and procedures for providing notice; the investment banking firm of Wasserstein Perella & Co., Inc. reviewed the fairness of the consideration for eligible policyholders as a group; and the law firm of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan reviewed the Plan’s compliance with § 19E. The Working Group examined proposed drafts of the Plan andmaderecommendationsforimprovementstoJHM and its advisors.

On August 31, 1999, JHM management adopted the conversion Plan and, pursuant to §19E, submitted it to the Commissioner for approval. The Plan called for JHM to become a subsidiary of a holding company, providing eligible policyholders with stock, cash or policy credits in exchange for their interests in the mutual company. Those interests were the right to vote at JHM’s annual and special meetings and the right to share in the distribution of the residual value of JHM in the event of a solvent liquidation. These interests are essentially illiquid. The formula adopted by JHM for allocating consideration among its policyholders utilized the so-called “historic plus” methodology, including both fixed and variable components. The fixed component compensated policyholders for the loss of their right to vote regardless of the level of their contribution to JHM’s surplus; the variable component, which comprised the majority of the consideration, allocated additional shares to reflect each policyholder’s past and projected future contributions to the surplus.

The Commissioner appointed two attorneys as co-Presiding Officers for the public hearing mandated by §19E. Neither the Commissioner nor the Presiding Officers participated in the Working Group’s analysis of the Plan. The Commissioner instructed all members of the Working Group not to comment on or discuss the Plan with the Presiding Officers. The Commissioner then issued the required notice of public hearing, which was published nationally and mailed to millions of JHM policyholders, employees and others. The Commissioner received numerous written submissions in response to the notice.

On November 17 and 18, 1999, the Commissioner and the two appointed Presiding Officers conducted a public hearing on the Plan. Both plaintiffs submitted ■written materials; plaintiff Thomas Tierney (“Tierney”) spoke at the hearing, as did the attorney for plaintiff Doris Marah (“Marah”). The record of the hearing was left open until November 22, 1999, for additional public comment.

Section 19E requires that policyholders vote to approve a conversion plan. On December 3, 1999, following a November 30, 1999, special meeting of policyholders, JHM reported that 93.72% of the 3,425,977 votes cast by approximately 1.1 million policyholders were in favor of the Plan. [598]*598Section 19E also requires the Commissioner to determine that the Plan be not prejudicial to JHM’s policyholders or to the insuring public.3 On December 9, 1999, the Commissioner issued a decision (the “Decision”) approving the Plan pursuant to the requirements of §19E. The Decision, which was based on a review of all the evidence presented to the Commissioner, including the concerns raised by policyholders, presented a detailed discussion of the Plan’s compliance with §19E. The Decision directly addressed specific policyholder concerns about the allocation of consideration.

On January 7, 2000, plaintiffs challenged the Plan, arguing that it did not adequately protect their interests as policyholders because it did not provide them with “just compensation” for their financial interests in the mutual company.

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Bluebook (online)
12 Mass. L. Rptr. 596, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tierney-v-john-hancock-mutual-life-insurance-masssuperct-2000.