General American News

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The General American Mutual Holding Co. (GAMHC) receivership sent notice packets to more than 300,000 persons and companies in April 2003 about the liquidation of GAMHC and their share of the initial $1 billion distribution of GAMHC's assets.

The notices were sent to GAMHC's "eligible members." As a mutual holding company, GAMHC – the former parent of General American Life – legally was owned by its "members," who were owners of General American Life policies or contracts as of Jan. 5, 2000. General American Life was sold to MetLife on Jan. 6, 2000.

A small percentage of these notice packets was returned to GAMHC by the post office. GAMHC hired an address research firm to help find these lost members. GAMHC opened a call center at 1-800-569-4721 to help eligible members understand the notice packet and to accept address changes. GAMHC updated as many addresses as possible and sent a follow-up mailing in October 2003. GAMHC continued to look for eligible members through 2004 and a second follow-up mailing was sent in August 2004.

The notice packets included these documents:

GAMHC mailed checks for the initial distribution of $1 billion in September 2003 to all members except: 1) eligible members who submitted an objection; 2) eligible members whose notice packets were returned by the post office; and 3) eligible members who contacted the call center and notified GAMHC that they did not receive a packet. For those members included in the October mailing, their distribution checks were mailed as addresses were updated and as objections were resolved.

GAMHC mailed checks for the second distribution of $200 million at the end of March 2005. Checks were mailed to all the eligible members except: 1) those who appealed their objection; and 2) those who do not have a current address on file with GAMHC.

GAMHC mailed checks for the third distribution of about $150 million beginning on Nov. 28, 2007, and continuing over a period of 10 working days.

For its fourth distribution, GAMHC mailed checks totaling nearly $75 million to 302,359 eligible members in 2009. About 30,000 checks were mailed daily from Nov. 18 to Dec. 2, 2009.

GAMHC holds about $60 million in assets. An additional $200,000+ is invested in a Qualified Settlement Fund for the benefit of the members. GAMHC is planning a final distribution once the following issues are resolved:

  1. MetLife has a lien on about $15 million of GAMHC's assets to secure indemnification claims it made through the GenAmerica stock purchase agreement.  GAMHC is working to get a release on this lien so it can distribute this money;
  2. The SDL filed a lawsuit against the law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP for its role in the events that led to General American Life's liquidity crisis.

The following documents are available through the GAMHC Internet Information Center (click on the link for access):