Case Summaries

Insurance Law

[03/08] Saunders v. Farmers Ins. Exch.
Dismissal of complaints against insurers brought under the Fair Housing Act and federal civil rights laws alleging discriminatory policies with regards to homeowners insurance for residents of minority neighborhoods is reversed in part as to certain price discrimination claims where the district court erred in invoking the judicially created filed rate doctrine.

[03/08] Lepi Enters., Inc. v. Nat'l Envtl. Serv. Corp.
A judgment and award of damages against defendants in a contract action is affirmed and remanded where the evidence was sufficient to support a jury's findings that a defendant breached the parties' contract, a damage award was supported by the record, but the district court erred in awarding prejudgment interest on lost profits.

[03/08] Stone v. Jackson Nat'l Life Ins. Co.
Dismissal with prejudice of complaint for breach of contract and violation of insurance regulations is affirmed where the action was founded on statutory liability, thus a four year statute of limitations applied.

[03/08] Ferreiro v. Philadelphia Indem. Ins. Co.
Denial of motion for class certification because of lack of standing is reversed where previous declaratory relief granted to the plaintiff did not extinguish other claims, thus preserving the case or controversy at the center of the lawsuit.

[03/08] Ingraham v. Travelers Indem. Co.
Dismissal of amended complaint with prejudice in a bad faith action against a worker's compensation insurance provider is affirmed where the provider's actions did not rise to a level that would overcome the provider's immunity under statute.

[03/08] Greene v. US
The retroactive application of new priority statutes fails to constitute regulation of the business of insurance, as required by the McCarran-Ferguson Act. Thus, the McCarran-Ferguson Act does not prevent the preemption of provisions of state law that provide for the application of state priority laws to insolvency proceedings commenced before the enactment of the substantive change in the priority statute.

[03/07] Peachtree Cas. Ins. Co. v. Prof. Massage Servs., Inc.
A petition for second-tier certiorari review in an insurance billing dispute is granted where the circuit court departed from the essential requirements of law in holding that a statutory exception for "past due amounts previously billed on a timely basis" was ambiguous as to whether it applied only to charges previously billed to the same insurer or whether it also applied to charges previously billed to the wrong insurer.

[03/07] Tilbury Constructors, Inc. v. State Comp. Ins. Fund
Dismissal of an action pursuant to defendant's, a workers compensation insurance carrier, demurrer is affirmed where defendant's conduct did not give rise to a cause of action for breach of an insurance contract or a cause of action for the tortious breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

[03/07] Cunningham v. Barnhart
Denial of attorney's fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act in an action concerning an ultimately favorable disability benefits determination is affirmed where there was substantial justification for the government's original denial of the benefits.

[03/07] Chawla v. Transamerica Occidental Life Ins. Co.
Summary judgment for defendant-insurer on a claim of breach of an insurance contract brought by a trustee of a special trust is affirmed where defendant's rescission of a life insurance policy was appropriate due to misrepresentations made in the life insurance applications.

[03/06] US v. St. Luke's Hosp., Inc.
Dismissal of a qui tam action against a hospital and physicians under the False Claims Act for failure to plead fraud with particularity is affirmed where plaintiff-anesthesiologist's complaint was void of a single specific instance of fraud, and there was no error in denying a motion to amend or in denying a motion to permit discovery.

[03/03] Am. Family Mut. Ins. Co. v. Le
Summary judgment for an insurer in its declaratory action is affirmed where plaintiffs' claims arose out of the use or operation of an automobile, and thus, were barred by an automobile exclusion of the homeowner's policy in question.

[03/03] Allied Asphalt Paving, Inc. v. Auto-Owners Ins. Co.
A petition for writ of certiorari is granted where the trial court departed from the essential requirements of law in issuing a protective order regarding documents an insurer provided to an insured's attorney in an underlying negligence suit since the order improperly interfered with the relationship between the insured and its attorneys.

[03/03] Garcia v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County
Petition for a writ of mandate from an in limine ruling precluding plaintiff from claiming noneconomic damages in an action for damages arising out of plaintiff and his lift's fall from a tow truck is granted since Proposition 213, Civ. Code section 3333.4, did not limit his right to compensation for noneconomic damages.

[03/03] Higbee v. Sentry Ins. Co.
Appeal of decision for defendant in an age discrimination and sexual harassment action is affirmed where the plaintiff did not object to jury instructions regarding the definition of "supervisor" during or following trial, and where the instructions did not constitute plain error.

[03/03] US v. Monumental Life Ins. Co.
An order enforcing an administrative summons issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requesting voluminous documents from defendant, a third party in an investigation by the IRS, is reversed where the IRS failed to establish a prima facie case for summons enforcement.

[02/27] N. Ins. Co. of New York v. Derma Clinic Inc.
Questions of law are certified to Connecticut's supreme court involving insurance coverage for claims arising from an alleged physical and sexual assault that occurred during the course of a massage performed by an employee of a business offering massage therapy.

[02/21] Reeves v. Conmac Security
Denial of unemployment benefits is affirmed where the finding of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board that the plaintiff was terminated for just cause had the support of substantial evidence and lacked legal error, and where the plaintiff's allegations otherwise lacked factual support and a foundation in the law.

[02/15] Smith v. Lawson
Defendant's application for certification of interlocutory appeal is denied where appellate review of the interlocutory order will not result in the termination of litigation, the reduction of future litigation or otherwise serve the interests of justice.

[01/31] AT&T Wireless Servs., Inc. v. Fed. Ins. Co., Inc.
Defendants' motions to dismiss in an action concerning insurance payments resulting from a shareholders' suit are granted and granted in part where the plaintiff's claims do not fit within the various policies' terms and precedent conditions, but denied in part where a dispute remains as to whether a defendant reasonably withheld payment of defense costs.

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