Family of dementia victim who jumped to his death settles with insurers over annuity sales

The widow of a New York City man who jumped to his death has settled a lawsuit with the insurance companies and a broker who sold him annuities.

Joan Jacobson, Jay Jacobson’s widow, claimed that the defendants sold her husband $2 million worth of annuities from 2019 and 2023, with no death benefits. Jacobson, 84, suffered from dementia, his family said, and committed suicide July 27, 2024, by jumping from a penthouse apartment at the Anagram Columbus Circle at 1 West 60th Street.

According to an order filed with the Supreme Court for the State of New York, the parties settled the case this month. No further details were released.

The lawsuit was initially filed in November 2024 against three brokers and USAA Life Insurance Co., New York Life Insurance and Annuity, Charles Schwab and Co., Fidelity Insurance Agency and Massachusetts Mutual Life. Joan Jacobson filed an amended complaint in March, dropping Charles Schwab and two brokers. Michael Bryce Venable remained as the lone broker defendant.

“At the times these annuities were sold, [Jay Jacobson] was unlikely – by virtue of his advanced age and dementia – to live more than five years, let alone the near decade necessary to recoup just the multi-million dollar principal outlay,” the lawsuit stated. “These annuities were objectively not in [his] best interest and the recommendations to purchase them are unjustifiable.”

High-dollar annuities

In his short affidavit supporting a motion to dismiss filed by Fidelity, Venable said Jacobson contacted Fidelity in April 2023, expressing interest in "an annuity with specific terms," Venable's affidavit stated.

"In particular, Mr. Jacobson expressed his desire to purchase through Fidelity an annuity that did not include any benefits paid to Mr. Jacobson's beneficiaries upon his death, but instead provided higher annuity income payments to Mr. Jacobson during his lifetime," the affidavit says.

Venable provided Jacobson, who had run a professional staffing company, with an eight-page "Illustration of Payout and Benefits" for a New York Life Guaranteed Lifetime Income Annuity II. That document begins with these two sentences: "This is an illustration and not a contract. Assumptions on which figures are based are subject to change by the insurer."

The $500,000 annuity paid Jacobson $5,413.59 per month. By that time, Jacobson already owned $500,000 annuities from New York Life, MassMutual and USAA, court documents say.

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InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.