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Northwestern Mutual settles lawsuit for $84 million

By: Associated Press//March 16, 2015//

Northwestern Mutual settles lawsuit for $84 million

By: Associated Press//March 16, 2015//

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A tower crane lowers a skid steer loader is lower form atop what is left of a Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. building while the building is being deconstructed Friday, May 23 in Milwaukee. With only four floors left to go, the building’s deconstruction is moving into a new phase which will see the sections of the building removed from the ground level and the tower crane will soon be removed. (Staff photo by Kevin Harnack)
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., which is building a new headquarters in Milwaukee, will pay $84 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over changes it made to annuities. (File photo by Kevin Harnack)

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. will pay $84 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over changes it made to annuities.

Twenty-nine-thousand former owners of the annuities and 4,000 current holders will be eligible to share in the settlement. Northwestern Mutual spokeswoman Betsy Hoylman said the company decided it was in everyone’s best interest to avoid the continued cost of litigation and the “uncertainty of the legal process.”

The Journal Sentinel says the lawsuit stems from changes the company made to annuities it sold before 1985. The plaintiffs said Northwestern Mutual improperly changed the way it paid the annuity owners without notifying them or getting permission — and that they lost dividend income over the next 20 years.

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