Samsung Life Insurance Appeals After First Trial Loss in 'Juksiyen-geum' Case

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Samsung Life Insurance, which lost the first trial in the immediate annuity lawsuit, has filed an appeal.

According to the insurance industry on the 11th, Samsung Life Insurance filed an appeal with the Seoul Central District Court yesterday, disagreeing with the first trial ruling on the lawsuit claiming unpaid immediate annuity payments.

A Samsung Life Insurance official stated, "After reviewing the judgment, we concluded that it is necessary to receive further court judgment, so we appealed."

On the 21st of last month, the 25th Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Kwan-yong) ruled in favor of all 57 plaintiffs who filed an insurance claim lawsuit against Samsung Life Insurance.

This ruling attracted attention as it was not only the fourth consecutive win for policyholders in lawsuits related to unpaid immediate annuity payments but also the first victory in a collegiate panel.

Immediate annuity is a product where the policyholder deposits a lump sum and starts receiving monthly insurance payments in the form of an annuity from the following month. The plaintiffs are 'inheritance maturity type' policyholders who receive annuity payments for a certain period and then get a refund of the principal upon maturity.

Life insurance companies selling immediate annuities, including Samsung Life Insurance, did not pay the entire amount calculated by applying the announced interest rate to the net premium (the premium paid minus business expenses) as the monthly annuity amount. Instead, they deducted a certain amount to secure funds for maturity refunds. However, the plaintiff policyholders filed complaints with financial authorities in 2017, arguing that such deductions were not specified in the policy terms and that the insurance companies did not provide clear explanations.

The Financial Supervisory Service estimated in 2018 that the scale of the unpaid immediate annuity dispute involved 160,000 people and between 800 billion to 1 trillion KRW. Among them, Samsung Life Insurance accounted for the largest share with 50,000 people and 400 billion KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.