Thurman v. CMFG Life Insurance Company

Welcome to the Thurman v. CMFG Life Insurance Company, formerly known as CUNA Mutual Insurance Society, and Black Hills Federal Credit Union website.

The lawsuit claims that CMFG Life and BHFCU changed policy terms and increased the amount they charged for disability insurance by 68% to $.235 per $100 of the loan’s balance for Single Credit Disability, and provided policyholders with only a slight increase in coverage. It also claims that the Defendants chose to hide these changes from policyholders by including the information in BHFCU’s monthly newsletter and not providing: (1) the rate policyholders were paying before the increase; (2) the percentage of the increase; (3) the dollar amount of the increase over the life of the loan; (4) the additional interest that BHFCU would collect over the life of the loan; and (5) the minor benefit of the increased insurance coverage. More specifically, the lawsuit claims the Defendants: (1) breached their contracts with policyholders; (2) unfairly profited from the change in policy terms; (3) violated South Dakota’s Unfair Trade Practices Law; (4) violated South Dakota’s Deceptive Trade Practice and Consumer Protection Laws; (5) violated Tort Laws by deceiving and breaching their disclosure duties to policyholders and converting the way payment amounts were applied; and (6) violated South Dakota’s Codified Laws, SDCL 55-1-8, 58-17-14, 58-19-18, 58-19-19 and 58-19-21. More information on what the lawsuit complains about can be found in the Amended Class Action Complaint and Demand for Jury Trial, available on the Court Documents page.

CMFG Life and BHFCU deny all of the claims and allegations in the lawsuit. They claim that they acted responsibly, truthfully and lawfully when changing the terms of disability insurance policies, and that the entire class’s claims are barred by the statute of limitations. More information on CMFG Life’s answer to the claims can be found in CMFG Life’s Response to the Amended Class Action Complaint. More information on BHFCU’s answer to the claims can be found in Black Hills Federal Credit Union’s Response to the Amended Class Action Complaint. Both documents are available on the Court Documents page.