Frequently Asked Questions

The Symetra Settlement covers all persons who were participants, or were those participants’ respective beneficiaries entitled to benefits, in the African Methodist Episcopal Church Ministerial Retirement Annuity Plan on June 30, 2021 (“Settlement Class Member(s)”). According to records produced in the Lawsuit, you are a Settlement Class Member.

A Court authorized Notice because you have a right to know about a proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit, and about all of your options, before the Court decides whether to finally approve that settlement. This Notice explains the Lawsuit, the Symetra Settlement, your legal rights, the benefits that are available, who is eligible to receive them, and how to get them.

The case is captioned In re: AME Church Employee Retirement Fund Litigation, Case No. 1:22-md-03035-STA-jay and is currently pending in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.

On April 17, 2026, the Court preliminarily approved the Symetra Settlement and directed the parties to issue this Notice. The Court will hold a Final Approval Hearing (also known as a “Fairness Hearing”) on August 19, 2026, at 10:00 am, in Courtroom 1 of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, located at James Todd Courthouse, 111 South Highland Avenue, Jackson, TN 38301. The Final Approval Hearing may be continued to another date without further notice.  You are encouraged to check the Important Dates and Deadlines page for any changes to the hearing date, time, or location.

This Lawsuit was brought on behalf of participants in the  African Methodist Episcopal Church Ministerial Annuity Retirement Plan (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) against (1) Symetra; (2) the “Previously-Settled Defendants,” specifically, the African Methodist Episcopal Church (“AMEC”), AMEC Department of Retirement Services, AMEC General Board, AMEC Council of Bishops, and Newport Group, Inc; and (3) the “Non-Settling Defendants,” specifically, the Estate of Dr. Jerome V. Harris, Robert Eaton, Financial Freedom Funds, LLC, Financial Freedom Group, Inc., Financial Technologies, LLC, Motorskill Ventures, Inc., Motorskill Ventures I, L.P., Motorskill Asia Ventures 1, L.P., Rodney Brown and Company, Trinity Financial Consultants, LLC, Sandra Harris, and Day and Night Solar, LLC.

The operative consolidated complaint asserts ten claims for relief: (1) breach of fiduciary duty; (2) violation of the Tennessee Uniform Trust Code; (3) negligence; (4) conversion; (5) fraudulent concealment; (6) fraudulent misrepresentation; (7) breach of contract; (8) civil conspiracy; (9) aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty; and (10) professional negligence. Not all of these claims are asserted against each Defendant.  A copy of the complaint is available on the Case Documents page.

Symetra denies all of the claims asserted against it in the Lawsuit. The Symetra Settlement therefore is not an admission of any wrongdoing or liability by Symetra or an indication that any law was violated or wrong committed. The Court has not ruled on the merits of the claims asserted by Plaintiffs against Symetra in the Lawsuit. By approving the Symetra Settlement and issuing this Notice, the Court is not suggesting which side would win or lose this case if it went to trial.

The Court has not decided in favor of Plaintiffs or Symetra. There was no trial. The Symetra Settlement does not indicate that the Court or a jury would decide in favor of Plaintiffs or against Symetra. Additionally, the Lawsuit remains ongoing against the Non-Settling Defendants (listed in section 2 above). However, to avoid additional expense, inconvenience, and risks of continued litigation, Plaintiffs and Symetra have concluded that it is in their respective best interests to settle the claims brought by Plaintiffs against Symetra. 

The Symetra Settlement was reached after a lengthy and comprehensive exchange of extensive information about and investigation into the allegations, facts, and legal arguments regarding all of the claims raised in the Lawsuit by all parties. By settling now, Plaintiffs and Symetra avoid the burden, expense, and uncertainty of continued litigation of the Plaintiffs’ claims against Symetra.

If the Court grants final approval of the Symetra Settlement, Symetra will pay Forty-Four Million Four Hundred Thousand Dollars ($44,400,000) (referred to as the “Symetra Settlement Amount”) to resolve all actual and potential claims against Symetra and its affiliates related in any way to the allegations in the complaint.  All claims against the Non-Settling Defendants are preserved and will continue to be litigated.

The Symetra Settlement Amount of $44,400,000 will be paid in cash into the Qualified Settlement Fund within 30 days of the Court preliminarily approving the Symetra Settlement.  The Qualified Settlement Fund is an interest-bearing escrow account where the funds will be kept until they are ultimately distributed back to the Settlement Class Members’ retirement accounts after the Court gives final approval of the Symetra Settlement.

Additionally, the net interest earned by the Qualified Settlement Fund prior to distribution will be distributed to the Settlement Class Members as part of the “Net Settlement Amount” (which equals the Symetra Settlement Amount plus interest earned minus any taxes on that interest, Notice and Settlement Administration Expenses, and/or awards of attorneys’ fees and costs or service awards to the named Plaintiffs, as explained in the next paragraph).

Attorneys’ Fees and Costs. Because this is a class action lawsuit, the attorneys representing Plaintiffs and the retirement plan participants (“Class Counsel”) must seek approval from the Court for an award of attorneys’ fees and costs for their time and expenses spent litigating the Lawsuit as well as for appropriate service awards for the named Plaintiffs for their time spent representing the Class and participating in the Lawsuit. Class Counsel intends to request that the Court award up to 33 and 1/3% of the Symetra Settlement Amount plus interest earned in attorneys’ fees.

Class Counsel will submit their petition for attorneys’ fees, costs, and service awards on June 17, 2026, and a copy of their petition will be available on the Case Documents page at that time. Please note that Class Counsel reserves the right to petition for an additional award of attorneys’ fees and costs and for payment of appropriate service awards based on any additional recovery obtained in the future from the Non-Settling Defendants.

Every Settlement Class Member who does not opt out of the Symetra Settlement (the “Settlement Class”) will automatically be allocated a pro-rata share of the Net Settlement Amount, which will be deposited in the Settlement Class Member’s retirement account. You do not have to submit a claim form in order to be allocated a pro-rata share of the Net Settlement Amount.

The Net Settlement Amount will be distributed pro rata to Settlement Class Members based on the ratio of the Settlement Class Member’s account balance as of June 30, 2021, to the total value of all Settlement Class Members’ account balances as of June 30, 2021, accounting for any distributions taken by the Settlement Class Member between June 30, 2021, and the date those balances were retroactively calculated. The Settlement Administrator will be responsible for calculating how to allocate the Net Settlement Amount and will oversee the transfer of the Net Settlement Amount from the Qualified Settlement Fund to the Qualified Trust.

The Qualified Trust is a trust account that has been established by the AME Church to hold and operate the retirement plan that existed as of June 30, 2021 (which is different than the new retirement plan with Wespath that was established after this Lawsuit commenced). The Qualified Trust is managed and invested by the Disciplina Group LLC, an independent professional investment company and fiduciary based in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Settlement Administrator will issue any tax forms as may be required by law for all amounts paid pursuant to the Settlement. The Settlement Administrator, Symetra and its counsel, Plaintiffs and Class Counsel, and the Court cannot provide you with tax advice. Accordingly, you should consult with your tax advisor concerning the tax consequences and treatment of allocations under the Settlement.

Your individual share of the Net Settlement Amount will be based on the methodology described above. This amount is only an estimate, and the actual amount you receive may be more or less than the estimated amount. No money will be allocated to you if you opt out or the Court does not grant final approval of the Settlement.

If you do nothing and do not opt out of the Symetra Settlement, your pro-rata share of the Net Settlement Amount will be automatically deposited into the Qualified Trust on your behalf after the Court grants final approval of the Settlement. Then, for Settlement Class Members who are eligible to take distributions, those Settlement Class Members will be able to take distributions from the Qualified Trust of their share of the Net Settlement Amount once the Net Settlement Amount has been transferred to the Qualified Trust.

In no event shall any Settlement Class Member be entitled to a distribution of their pro-rata share of the Net Settlement Amount prior to the transfer of the Net Settlement Amount to the Qualified Trust.

In other words, you will not receive a check or cash payment for your pro-rata share of the Net Settlement Amount. Rather you will be able to take a full or partial distribution of your pro-rata share based on your individual eligibility once the Court grants final approval of the Settlement and the Net Settlement Amount is transferred to the Qualified Trust.

If the Court finally approves the Symetra Settlement, the Court will enter judgment on Plaintiffs’ and the Settlement Class’s claims against Symetra, and the judgment and Settlement Agreement will bind all Settlement Class Members who have not timely opted out of the Settlement.  Those Settlement Class Members will be barred from bringing any claims against Symetra related in any way to the allegations in the Lawsuit as described below. Specifically, you will be giving up or “releasing” the claims described below:

Release of Claims Against Symetra: As more fully explained in the Symetra Settlement Agreement, by operation of the Final Approval Order and Judgment, and except as to such rights as may be created by the Symetra Settlement Agreement, Plaintiffs and each of the Settlement Class Members who did not timely opt out of the Settlement and all of their agents, beneficiaries, heirs, relatives, estates, executors, administrators, successors, predecessors, assigns, insurers, trustees, attorneys, representatives, partners, and all other Persons who seek to claim through or in the name or right of any Settlement Class Member (the “Releasing Parties”), shall expressly and irrevocably release, waive, and forever discharge the Symetra Released Parties (as described below and defined in Section 9.1 of the Symetra Settlement Agreement) from any and all Claims (as defined in Section 9.1 of the Symetra Settlement Agreement), whether known or unknown, asserted or unasserted, that the Releasing Parties now have, ever had, or may in the future have, arising out of, resulting from, or relating in any way to any of the allegations, acts, inaction, facts, subject matter, transactions, statements, events, matters, occurrences, representations, failures to disclose, or omissions, involved, alleged, or referred to in the Litigation, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly (as described in more detail in Section 9.1 of the Symetra Settlement Agreement).

“Symetra Released Parties” means Symetra, Symetra Financial Corporation, and all of their respective present and former officers, directors, employees, managers, agents, attorneys, administrators, departments, business units, divisions, affiliates, successors, predecessors, subsidiaries, parent companies, insurers, and reinsurers, as defined in Section 9.1 of the Symetra Settlement Agreement.  Symetra Released Parties does not include Dr. Jerome V. Harris and/or his Estate or any of the other Non-Settling Defendants in this Lawsuit.

If you do not want to participate in the Symetra Settlement, you can exclude yourself from the Settlement (that is, “opt out” of the Settlement).

To opt out and exclude yourself from the Symetra Settlement, you must mail a signed letter to the Settlement Administrator at the following address on or before July 17, 2026. No Opt-Out Requests postmarked after this date will be valid. 

In re: AME Church Employee Retirement Fund Litigation Settlement Administrator

c/o Verita Global

P.O. Box 301134

Los Angeles, CA 90030-1134

The signed letter must state your name, telephone number, current address, last four digits of your Social Security Number, and the following statement that you are requesting to opt out of the Symetra Settlement:

“I, [NAME], voluntarily choose not to participate in the settlement of the class action against Symetra and hereby waive any rights I may have to participate in the class settlement with Symetra in the federal court lawsuit entitled In re: AME Church Employee Retirement Fund Litigation, Case No. 1:22-md-03035-STA-jay.”

Opt-Out Requests that do not include all required information will not be effective and will be deemed null and void.

If you don’t think that the Symetra Settlement is fair, you can object to the Settlement and tell the Court that you don’t agree with the Settlement or some part of it.

To do so, you must mail or file a written statement of objection to the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, or file it in person at any location of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee and it must be filed or postmarked on or before July 17, 2026.

To be considered, the objection must contain: (1) your full name; (2) your address; (3) the telephone number and email address where you may be contacted; (4) all grounds for the objection, with specificity and with factual and legal support for each stated ground; (5) the identity of any witnesses you may call to testify; (6) copies of any exhibits that you intend to introduce into evidence at the Final Approval Hearing; (7) a statement of the identity (including name, address, law firm, phone number and email address) of any lawyer who will be representing you with respect to any objection; (8) a statement of whether you intend to appear at the Final Approval Hearing with or without counsel; and (9) a statement as to whether the objection applies only to you, to you and a specific subset of the Class, or the entire Class.

A copy of the objection must also be delivered by hand, email, or first-class mail to Class Counsel and to Symetra’s counsel, at the mailing or email addresses listed in Section 8.3 of the Symetra Settlement Agreement, available on the Case Documents page.

The written statement should also include the name of this action: In re: AME Church Employee Retirement Fund Litigation, Case No. 1:22-md-03035-STA-jay. If you intend to appear at the Final Approval Hearing and wish to speak at the hearing, you must include that in your objection. You do not have to be represented by a lawyer to object. However, if you choose to retain a lawyer to represent you, you will be solely responsible for any attorneys’ fees and costs incurred.  

Your objection must be received no later than July 17, 2026, or you will be deemed to have waived any objections.

The Court has scheduled a Final Approval Hearing on August 19, 2026, at 10:00 am, in Courtroom 1 of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, located at James Todd Courthouse, 111 South Highland Avenue, Jackson, TN 38301.  During this hearing, the Court will review the proposed Symetra Settlement and decide whether it is fair, reasonable, and adequate and whether it should be finally approved.  You are welcome, but not required, to attend this hearing, whether you agree with or object to the proposed Symetra Settlement.

The date of the Final Approval Hearing may be changed without further notice to the Class. Before attending, please confirm the date of this hearing by contacting the Settlement Administrator.

A complete copy of the Symetra Settlement Agreement, this Notice, and other important documents from the Lawsuit are available on the Case Documents page. This website will be updated periodically to update the Settlement Class Members on any developments in the case.

If you have questions about the Symetra Settlement or would like more information, you should contact the Settlement Administrator, Verita Global, at:

In re: AME Church Employee Retirement Fund Litigation Settlement Administrator

c/o Verita Global

P.O. Box 301134

Los Angeles, CA 90030-1134

833-419-3900

You may also contact the Class Counsel listed below:

Matthew E. Lee

Jeremy R. Williams

Lee Segui PLLC

919-421-7765

PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE COURT OR THE ATTORNEYS FOR SYMETRA ABOUT THIS NOTICE.

Dated: April 17, 2026

By Order of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.