The underlying dispute centers on allegations that Rev. Dr. Jerome V. Harris, who served as executive director of the African Methodist Episcopal Church Department of Retirement Services, and his business associate Robert Eaton allegedly ran a long-running scheme to misappropriate assets from the African Methodist Episcopal Church Ministerial Retirement Annuity Plan. Plaintiffs allege Harris and Eaton elected to move the plan's investment business to Symetra in 2001 and kept it there for 20 years largely because they believed Symetra was more willing to allow them to enrich themselves with commissions, kickbacks, and prohibited transactions. Between 2016 and 2019 alone, Symetra paid Harris $3,500,300 in administrative fees. Plaintiffs contend that had the plan been prudently invested, it would have been worth as much as $272 million by the end of Harris's tenure in June 2021.
The case is consolidated in the Western District of Tennessee as In re AME Church Employee Retirement Fund Litigation, Lead Case No. 1:22-md-03035-STA-jay, before Judge S. Thomas Anderson. Six civil actions filed in early 2022 across multiple federal districts were transferred to the MDL by the Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in June 2022. The class consists of approximately 4,513 current or retired clergy and plan participants residing across the United States.
The Symetra settlement, reached through a mediator's proposal following two formal mediation sessions — one with retired Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Janice Holder and a second with former federal judge Layn R. Phillips — represents roughly half of the $88.4 million difference between the misrepresented value of the plan and the true value of the plan as of June 2021, or a little less than 20 percent of the $227 million plaintiffs would have sought at trial. Combined with earlier settlements against the AMEC Defendants and Newport Group, total recoveries now stand at approximately $106.2 million. The court noted that no class member objected to or opted out of either of those prior settlements.
Judge Anderson found that the settlement satisfies both the Rule 23(e)(2) factors and the Sixth Circuit's UAW factors for preliminary approval. The court emphasized the urgency of relief for a class of clergy who discovered in 2021 that their retirement accounts were worth approximately 75 percent less than they had been told, and who face additional years of delay if the case proceeds through trial and appeals. A jury trial had been set for September 14, 2026.
Under the settlement's distribution plan, Symetra will pay the full $44.4 million into a settlement fund within 30 days of the preliminary approval order. Each class member's pro rata share will be allocated automatically to an individual retirement account with no further action required by class members. Class counsel — a group of eight law firms and organizations including Lee Segui PLLC, Osborne Francis & Pettis Law PLLC, Stranch Jennings & Garvey PLLC, Kantor & Kantor LLC, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP, Blue LLP, Wright & Schulte LLC, and the AARP Foundation — will seek fees of one-third of the total recovery, plus $490,000 in costs and $20,000 service awards for each named plaintiff.
The court denied as moot, without prejudice, a series of pending motions between plaintiffs and Symetra, including Daubert motions to exclude expert witnesses on both sides, Symetra's motion for summary judgment on derivative and individual claims, plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment against Symetra, Symetra's motion for relief from a local rule, and Symetra's objections to a magistrate judge's order on expert testimony. The settlement does not affect plaintiffs' remaining claims against other defendants, including the Estate of Dr. Harris, Robert Eaton, and associated entities, nor does it extinguish Symetra's cross-claims against the AMEC Defendants.