US insurer Allstate has agreed to pay $59m (£41m) to a group of policyholders to settle a class-action lawsuit, and will take a charge of $107m in the fourth quarter to restructure its claims operation.
Allstate, the second-largest car and home insurer in the US, said it had settled the suit which required it to pay policyholders "diminished value" - the amount of value lost when an insured car is damaged in an accident.
Allstate said each policyholder who had not already received a payment for diminished value, would get about $150 (£104) to $215 (£150) per claim.
The company said it had taken out a fourth-quarter reserve to pay for the lawsuit, which will total $38m (£26m) after tax, or about $0.05.
It added that the fourth-quarter restructuring charge of $107m before tax worked out to $0.10 per share after tax. The charge will pay for an initiative to cut the company's number of offices and redesign its processing operations.
Savings from the restructuring are expected to be about $140m (£97m).
The company said it would report earnings for the fourt quarter on 6 February 2002.
