Two-time NASCAR champion Kyle Busch and his wife, Samantha Busch, have reached an out-of-court settlement with Pacific Life Insurance Company over an $8.5 million life insurance lawsuit.
The settlement, filed on February 26, brought an end to claims that the couple was misled into purchasing life insurance policies presented as retirement planning vehicles.
The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. "Both sides worked constructively to achieve a confidential result that is mutually acceptable and avoids further legal proceedings," Pacific Life said in a statement.
The Buschs initially filed suit against Pacific Life in October 2025, alleging losses exceeding $8.5 million. The couple said they paid more than $10.4 million in premiums based on what they described as misleading illustrations and false assurances of guaranteed returns.
At the center of the dispute were indexed universal life insurance policies – a type of permanent life insurance that ties cash value growth to the performance of a market index such as the S&P 500 rather than investing directly in equities.
Such policies are frequently marketed to high-net-worth individuals as tax-advantaged retirement vehicles, though consumer finance experts have long cautioned that their fee structures and return caps make them riskier than illustrated projections often suggest.
The lawsuit claimed Pacific Life and one of its agents marketed the policies as "tax-free retirement plans," using speculative projections that did not adequately disclose the associated risks and costs.
The suit further alleged that the company placed commission earnings above policyholder interests and violated North Carolina's Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
The Busch case is not an isolated dispute. In May 2024, an Idaho jury ordered Pacific Life and an agent to pay more than $1.5 million to a retiree over a separate indexed universal life insurance claim.
Multiple carriers - including Allianz, Transamerica and National Life Group - have faced similar litigation alleging misleading sales practices around the product.
Pacific Life moved to dismiss the case in January, arguing that Kyle Busch and his wife had not fully funded their policies and had signed documentation agreeing to the terms.
The insurer also raised a statute of limitations defense, noting that the life insurance lawsuit was filed seven years after the policies were first issued - beyond the state's three-year filing window.
The settlement resolves the matter without a court ruling on the merits of either side's claims.
