Accident Insurance v. Greg Kennedy Builder, Inc.

159 F. Supp. 3d 1285, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10700, 2016 WL 379732
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Alabama
DecidedJanuary 29, 2016
DocketCIVIL ACTION 15-0306-WS-B
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 159 F. Supp. 3d 1285 (Accident Insurance v. Greg Kennedy Builder, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Accident Insurance v. Greg Kennedy Builder, Inc., 159 F. Supp. 3d 1285, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10700, 2016 WL 379732 (S.D. Ala. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER

WILLIAM H. STEELE, CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

This matter is before the Court on the defendants’ motion to dismiss or stay. (Doc. 34). The parties have filed briefs in support of their respective positions, and the motion is ripe for resolution. After careful consideration, the Court concludes that the motion to dismiss is due to be denied and that the motion to stay is due to be granted in part and denied in part.

BACKGROUND

• The plaintiff filed this action under the Declaratory Judgments Act (“the Act”) against its insured (“Kennedy”) and the plaintiff in the underlying lawsuit (“Beni-tez”), which was filed against Kennedy and others. The original complaint sought a declaration that the plaintiff has no duty to indemnify Kennedy. (Doc. 1 at 9). The complaint did not seek a declaration as to the plaintiffs duty to defend.

[1287]*1287The defendants filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the indemnification issue is not ripe and that the Court thus should dismiss the action or at least stay it pending resolution of the underlying lawsuit. (Doc. 14). The plaintiff promptly amended its complaint, as of right, to add a request for a declaration that the plaintiff has no duty to defend Kennedy in the underlying litigation. (Doc. 16 at 10). The Magistrate Judge thereafter ruled that the amended pleading rendered moot the motion to dismiss or stay. (Doc. 18). A second motion to dismiss or stay followed, (Doc. 20), but the Court denied it as moot after the plaintiff had filed a second amended complaint and the defendants had filed the instant motion to dismiss or stay. (Doc. 35).

The defendants argue that the Court lacks jurisdiction but that, even if jurisdiction exists, the Court should exercise its discretion to dismiss the action without consideration.

DISCUSSION

“In a case of actual controversy within its jurisdiction, ... any court of the United States, upon the filing of an appropriate pleading, may declare the rights and other legal relations of any interested party seeking such a declaration, whether or not further relief is or could be sought.” 28 U.S.C. § 2201(a). To be “within [the] jurisdiction” of the Court, there must exist an independent fount of jurisdiction. Appling County v. Municipal Electric Authority, 621 F.2d 1301, 1303 (5th Cir.1980). Here, as the Court has previously ruled, (Doc. 32), that fount is diversity of citizenship.

The statutory “actual controversy” requirement mirrors the constitutional “case or controversy” requirement of Article III, section 2. Provident Life & Accident Insurance Co. v. Transamerica-Occidental Life Insurance Co., 850 F.2d 1489, 1491 (11th Cir.1988). In the statutory context, that requirement looks to “ Svhether the facts alleged, under all the circumstances, show that there is a substantial controversy, between parties having adverse legal interests, of sufficient immediacy and reality to warrant the issuance of a declaratory judgment.’ ” GTE Directories Publishing Corp. v. Trimen America, Inc., 67 F.3d 1563, 1567 (11th Cir.1995) (quoting Maryland Casualty Co. v. Pacific Coal & Oil Co., 312 U.S. 270, 273, 61 S.Ct. 510, 85 L.Ed. 826 (1941)).

Even when an “actual controversy” exists that falls “within [the] jurisdiction” of the district court, the plaintiff has no absolute right to a federal forum. “In the declaratory judgment context, the normal principle that federal courts should adjudicate claims within their jurisdiction yields to considerations of practicality and wise judicial administration.” Wilton v. Seven Falls Co., 515 U.S. 277, 288, 115 S.Ct. 2137, 132 L.Ed.2d 214 (1995). The Act “confer[s] unique and substantial discretion in deciding whether to declare the rights of litigants,” and the district court’s decision whether to exercise jurisdiction is reviewable on appeal only for abuse of that discretion. Id. at 286, 290, 115 S.Ct. 2137.

A. Actual Controversy.

As noted, the original complaint sought a declaration only as to indemnity. The defendants string three concepts together in an effort to show that the original complaint fatally failed to invoke the Court’s jurisdiction: (1) ripeness goes to a court’s subject matter jurisdiction; (2) any question as to indemnity is unripe before the insured is cast in judgment; and (3) subject matter jurisdiction must exist when the complaint is filed, such that its initial absence cannot be cured by subsequent events. (Doc. 34 at 8-12; Doc. 38 at 1-5).

Each of these concepts finds case support. As to the first, “[t]he determination [1288]*1288of ripeness goes to whether the district court had subject matter jurisdiction to hear the case.” Digital Properties, Inc. v. City of Plantation, 121 F.3d 586, 590 (11th Cir.1997) (internal quotes omitted); see also Elend v. Basham, 471 F.3d 1199, 1204 (11th Cir.2006) (“[Rjipeness originate^] from the Constitution’s Article III requirement that the jurisdiction of the federal courts be limited to actual cases and controversies.”).

As to the defendants’ second premise, this Court has observed that “[c]ase law is legion for the proposition that an insurer’s duty to indemnify is not ripe for adjudication unless and until the insured or putative insured has been held liable in the underlying action.” Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Co. v. King, 2012 WL 280656 at *5 (S.D.Ala.2012). Thus, a plaintiff “cannot dispute that the duty-to-indemnify issue joined in this action is not yet ripe because there has been no liability determination in the underlying suit.” Id.1

And as to the defendants’ third premise, “[sjubject matter jurisdiction is ordinarily tested as of the time of filing the complaint.” Damiano v. F.D.I.C., 104 F.3d 328, 333 (11th Cir.1997).

Based on these principles, the defendants conclude that, by limiting its original complaint to the existence vel non of a duty to indemnify, the plaintiff failed to assert a ripe controversy, which failure deprives the Court of jurisdiction, the absence of which cannot be cured by the amended complaint’s expansion of the lawsuit to challenge the plaintiffs duty to defend.

The defendants’ argument is not unreasonable, but it fails to capture the entire landscape. In an opinion the defendants cite but do not address in pertinent part, this Court examined the relevant authorities2 and concluded, in a case involving only the duty to indemnify, that “the complaint presents an ‘actual controversy’ under the Act despite the absence of a verdict or settlement against the plaintiffs insureds.” Employers Mutual Casualty Co. v.

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159 F. Supp. 3d 1285, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10700, 2016 WL 379732, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/accident-insurance-v-greg-kennedy-builder-inc-alsd-2016.