NASCAR driver Kyle Busch, one of the sport’s most well-known stars, has filed a multimillion-dollar life insurance lawsuit—and has taken aim at the case’s defendants in an unprecedented public manner.
Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion, and his wife, Samantha, claimed they lost $8.58 million from purchasing Pacific Life policies.
The suit, filed in Lincoln County, N.C., names Pacific Life, insurance agent Rodney Smith, and his Red River LLC as defendants, with the Busches seeking to “recover damages arising from the design, sale, and administration of multiple Pacific Life indexed universal life (‘IUL’) policies” by Smith, in conjunction with multiple Pacific Life employees.
While the 50-page lawsuit is dated Oct. 14, Busch’s legal team on Tuesday sent out a formal press release announcing the Busches had become a “cautionary tale in indexed universal life insurance ‘retirement’ schemes.” Busch also posted a 90-second video with his wife on social media about the lawsuit, railing against the insurance “scam.”
Money Matters
The Busches are claiming they made $10.4 million in insurance premium payments, which ultimately resulted in a net out-of-pocket loss of $8,582,007. The suit says Smith “designed and promoted an indexed universal insurance strategy that exposed [the Busches] to substantial financial risk concealed by misleading projections, unrealistic assumptions, and material omissions.”
It’s unclear exactly how much money the Busches are seeking in the lawsuit.
“We’re not discussing specific dollar figures at this stage,” the family’s attorney Robert Rikard said in a statement to Front Office Sports. “What we can say is that the Busches suffered significant financial harm, including more than $8.5 million in direct out-of-pocket losses, lost investment opportunity, and other consequential damages resulting from Pacific Life’s deceptive sales practices and unsuitable policy designs. The lawsuit seeks treble damages under North Carolina law for unfair and deceptive trade practices, reflecting both the magnitude of the financial loss and the willful nature of the defendants’ misconduct.”
Inside the Lawsuit
The lawsuit lays out five separate causes of action for negligence (one against Smith and his LLC, and one against Pacific Life), violation of the North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, breach of fiduciary duty, and negligent misrepresentation. Each seeks “an amount in excess of $25,000” from the defendants.
Additionally, the lawsuit seeks to recover the following:
- Actual damages in an amount to be proven at trial, including out-of-pocket losses, lost investment opportunity, and loss of policy value and benefits
- Consequential damages proximately caused by the defendants’ conduct
- Punitive damages in an amount to be determined by the finder of fact
- Reasonable attorneys’ fees
Busch’s NASCAR earnings are not public, but the 40-year-old has won 63 Cup Series races, 102 second-tier Xfinity Series races, and 67 Truck Series races. A driver of Busch’s status could easily earn $10 million–plus annually from endorsement deals, too.
