Justia U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries
Articles Posted in Insurance Law
Gulf Underwriters Ins. Co. v. Burris, et al.
Lowell Burris and his wife commenced a product liability action against Menard, Versa, and Versa's affiliate in Minnesota state court. After Menard removed the action to federal court, which had diversity jurisdiction, Gulf commenced this action seeking a judgment declaring "that the policy issued by Gulf to [the named insureds] does not afford coverage to them or Menard, Inc. for any claim made by [Burris] under the terms of the Gulf Policy." The district court granted Gulf's motion for a summary declaratory judgment on the ground that Versa' dissolution after expiration of the policy meant that the insured "cannot meet its obligations under the SIR" (Self-Insured Retention endorsement), a material breach that terminated Gulf's obligations under the policy. Burris appealed. The court concluded that summary judgment for Gulf was factually unwarranted and the declaratory judgment action was dismissed with prejudice.
Nunn v. Noodles & Co., et al.
Plaintiff sued her employer and its workers' compensation insurer for intentional obstruction of workers' compensation in violation of Minnesota statute 176.82. The employer and insurer moved for summary judgment, which the district court granted. The court held that there were genuine issues of material fact as to whether the employer intentionally obstructed her receipt of workers' compensation benefits through her manager's fabrications and its 17-month delay in payment. The court also held that genuine issues of material fact remained as to whether the insurer intentionally obstructed her receipt of workers' compensation benefits by concealing the manager's first statement about the purpose of the meeting at issue, filing a factually-inaccurate claim denial, and continuing to deny the claim through trial. Accordingly, the court reversed the judgment of the district court and remanded for further proceedings.
Bryan v. Stanton
Debtor appealed an order of the bankruptcy court sustaining the objection of the Chapter 7 trustee to her claimed exemption of her interest in an annuity. The court concluded that res judicata applied to the debtor's claim of an exemption; and even if res judicata did not apply the bankruptcy court properly disallowed the debtor's claimed exemption. The court also affirmed the bankruptcy court's decision on the bases that: (1) it properly determined that the record did not show that the Company was "authorized to do business" as a "stipulated premium" or "assessment plan" insurance company, as required for Mo. Rev. Stat. 377.330 and 377.090 to apply to the annuity; and (2) the annuity was not insurance, as required for any of the three statutes at issue.
Secura Ins. v. Weitz Co., et al.
This declaratory judgment action was brought by Secura, an insurer for Horizon, a subcontractor on a troubled construction project. Horizon's two other insurers, State Auto and Federated later joined. Their dispute with Weitz arose out of a construction project in which Weitz was the general contractor for Metropolitan. After Weitz and Metropolitan brought breach of contract claims against each other, both filed third party complaints against Horizon for defective plumbing. Horizon's insurers defended and settled all claims against it and reimbursed Weitz for its defense of claims against Horizon. Weitz then contended that since it was an "additional insured" on Horizon's policies, the insurers should pay for attorney fees and costs it incurred in defending against Metropolitan's entire counterclaim. The insurers filed this action seeking a final judgment that they not be required to pay the attorney fees and costs. Applying Missouri law, the court rejected Weitz's argument that Metropolitan's counterclaim asserted potentially covered losses under the policies. Therefore, the court affirmed summary judgment in favor of the insurers because Metropolitan's counterclaim did not state an "occurrence" giving rise to a possibility of coverage under the policies.
American Guarantee, etc. v. United States Fidelity, etc., et al.
This case involved a dispute between an excess and primary insurer, both of whom insured a trucking company whose tractor trailer was involved in a fatal accident. Parties injured in the accident sued the trucking company and obtained a jury verdict which exposed the excess carrier to a $17 million dollar liability. The excess carrier sued the primary carrier, alleging bad faith in failing to settle the underlying claim within the policy limits. The court held that the district court did not err in applying Missouri law because the excess insurer failed to identify Washington as a state "with a relationship to, or an interest in the issues that approaches Missouri's[.]" The court also held that the excess insurer's bad faith claim failed because its insured never made a demand of the primary insurer to settle the underlying litigation within the policy limits. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to the primary insurer.
Palmer, et al. v. Illinois Farmers Ins. Co.; Kluessendorf, et al. v. Progressive Preferred Ins. Co.; Hara, et al. v. USAA Casualty Ins. Co.; Johnson, et al. v. American Family Mutual Ins.
Insureds, Minnesota residents, filed class action complaints against their automobile insurers alleging violations of a Minnesota statute, Minn. Stat. 65B.285, requiring insurers to provide a discount for cars which have antitheft devices and breach of contract claims based on the failure to apply the statutory discount. The court affirmed the district court's dismissal of the insureds' amended complaints, rejecting their attempts here, particularly in the absence of any indication that Minnesota's administrative remedies were inadequate, to circumvent Minnesota's administrative remedies in order to create a private right of action.
Badami v. Sears
Robert A. Sears appealed from a bankruptcy court order finding that the bankruptcy estate of AFY was contractually and equitably entitled to receive the cash value of a life insurance policy, owned by Sears and paid for by AFY, to reimburse AFY for policy premiums paid. The court held that the bankruptcy court possessed the jurisdiction and constitutional authority to enter final judgment and AFY was not contractually or equitably entitled to the cash value of the policy. Accordingly, the decision of the bankruptcy court was reversed.
Carrow v. Standard Ins. Co.
Appellant appealed the district court's adverse grant of summary judgment in favor of Standard Insurance in this Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq., benefits case. The court held that the Plan administrator did not abuse its considerable discretion in this case where substantial evidence supported the administrator's decision.
Bjornestad v. Progressive Northern Ins.
Plaintiff brought suit against her insurer, asserting claims of breach of contract and bad faith. After a jury awarded plaintiff the full amount of her underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage, but denied her bad faith claim, the district court found the insurer's refusal to pay was "vexatious or without reasonable cause" and awarded plaintiff attorney's fees pursuant to S.D. Codified Laws 58-12-3. The insurer appealed arguing that the jury's rejection of plaintiff's bad faith claims should preclude an award of fees under the statute. The court affirmed the judgment and held that the district court did not err when it determined it could consider whether plaintiff was entitled to attorney's fees on her successful contract claim, notwithstanding the defense verdict on the bad faith claim. The court also held that the district court did not err in finding the insurer's refusal to pay was vexatious or without reasonable cause.
Tripp, et al. v. Western Nat’l Mutual Ins.
Plaintiff brought suit against her insurer, asserting claims of breach of contract and bad faith. After a jury awarded plaintiff the full amount of her underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage, but denied her bad faith claim, the district court found that the insurer's refusal to pay was "vexatious or without reasonable cause" and awarded plaintiff attorney's fees pursuant to S.D. Codified Laws 58-12-3. The insurer appealed arguing that the jury's rejection of plaintiff's bad faith claim should preclude an award of fees under the statute. The court affirmed the judgment and held that the district court did not err when it determined the statutory fee award did not hinge on the outcome of the bad faith claim and the district court did not err in finding the insurer's refusal to pay was vexatious or without reasonable cause.
