Officials in three states rejected Baldwin’s plan.

Ohio, New York and Georgia insurance commissioners said they oppose a settlement plan that calls for Baldwin-United annuities to be taken over by Metropolitan Life Insurance, because it would prevent the states from taking legal action against the brokerage houses that originally sold the annuities. More than 165,000 investors purchased $3.6 billion worth of lump-sum payment, high-yield annuities before six Baldwin insurance companies went bankrupt in 1983. It remains unclear whether the regulators’ rejection will scuttle the proposed settlement.