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Coventry seeks public release of Abacus legal documents
Coventry’s renewed bid would keep only insureds’ names, policy identification numbers, and certain business-negotiation terms redacted, while putting its answer, counterclaims, and exhibits on the public docket.
A legal dispute between life insurer Abacus Global Management and Coventry First has shifted from whether filings can be sealed to what the public should be allowed to see. In response to earlier proceedings, Coventry and its chairman Alan Buerger have pressed the court to unseal most materials tied to their case against Abacus, arguing they are not entitled to confidentiality protection.
According to Coverager, Coventry filed a renewed motion on July 17 seeking permission for limited redactions. The request would cover insureds’ names, life insurance policy identification numbers, and confidential terms connected to specific business negotiations or policy transactions, while asking that the remainder of Coventry’s answer, counterclaims, and exhibits be placed on the public docket.
Coventry is also pointing to specific categories of documents it wants disclosed. Those include emails it says involve Abacus CEO Jay Jackson discussing efforts to influence Lapetus, an internal email about the effects of switching from Lapetus to another life expectancy provider on Abacus’s portfolio valuation, Lapetus statements about its actual-to-expected mortality ratio, and documentation showing Jackson’s revisions to an Abacus press release concerning an actuarial valuation conducted by Lewis & Ellis.
Coventry argues that the materials it seeks to reveal do not contain trade secrets or proprietary information, and that they contain evidence of fraudulent business practices that go to the core of the dispute. Abacus opposes Coventry’s request, and Lapetus has deferred to Abacus’s position while Grant Thornton took no position.