Rachel Minder

Rachel’s practice has been devoted to handling class actions, insurance claims, and Medicaid fraud litigation.

Rachel served as co-lead counsel in a class action that resulted in a $28 million settlement agreement between US Financial Life Insurance Company and a class of nearly 12,000 policyholders. The class alleged the insurer improperly increased the cost of insurance (COI) charges on certain universal life products beginning in 2015.

She was also part of the team that recently secured a $38.2 million settlement for a settlement class consisting of more than 10,750 policyholders of Banner Life Insurance Company and William Penn Life Insurance Company universal life insurance policies. The plaintiffs in these class actions alleged that the companies unjustifiably increased the cost of insurance charges on the policies.

After the lone objector to the settlement appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, Rachel was part of the team that successfully obtained a published opinion in which the Fourth Circuit, for the first time, clarified the burden placed on a class member objecting to a settlement. Applying this standard to the settlement before it, the Fourth Circuit upheld the settlement as fair, reasonable, and adequate for all class members, notwithstanding the lone objector’s arguments. The case is 1988 Tr. for Allen Child. Dated 8/8/88 v. Banner Life Ins. Co., 28 F.4th 513 (4th Cir. 2022).

Additionally, she worked with the Kentucky Attorney General’s office and helped secure a $10.3 million settlement in its case against Fresenius Medical Care Holdings Inc., a Massachusetts-based dialysis company, for Medicaid fraud.

Rachel is a member of the Illinois State Bar; Alabama State Bar; American Association for Justice; Federal Bar Association; Women in eDiscovery; Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, International; Psi Chi International Honor Society in Psychology; Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society; and the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s Animal Law Program. She also serves as president of the board of directors for The Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald Museum and is an active member in the Junior League of Springfield.

The National Trial Lawyers organization has named Rachel a “Top 40 Under 40” lawyer. The designation is “extended solely to the select few of the most qualified attorneys from each state who demonstrate superior qualifications of leadership, reputation, influence, stature, and public profile measured by objective and uniformly applied standards.”

Rachel graduated cum laude from the University of Illinois Springfield with a B.A. in political science and psychology. She then earned her J.D. from Faulkner University’s Thomas Goode Jones School of Law, graduating summa cum laude. While at Jones, she was a Walter J. Knabe scholar, a senior editor of Jones Law Review, a Dean’s Fellow, and a teaching assistant. She also received 10 Best Paper awards in various courses.

Rachel was president of the Student Animal Legal Defense fund and coordinated multiple fundraisers and events that raised nearly $3,000 for local animal rescue organizations. She also was a member of the Jones Public Interest Law Foundation and Board of Advocates.

As a member of the Board of Advocates, Rachel was a Best Brief Finalist in the Faulkner Law 1L Moot Court Competition in 2013; had the Fourth Best Brief at the Mercer Legal Ethics and Professionalism Competition in 2013, where she finished as a National Finalist; and won Best Petitioner Brief and was a National Semifinalist at the August A. Rendigs, Jr. National Products Liability Competition in 2014.

Upon her graduation from Jones, Rachel was presented with the Advocacy Award in recognition of her academic achievement and for “best exemplifying the purpose and philosophy of Thomas Goode Jones School of Law.”

Rachel lives in central Illinois with her husband and their five dogs. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, crafting, and taking cello lessons.