American Corporate Society v. Valley Forge Insurance

424 F. App'x 86
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedApril 20, 2011
Docket10-3560
StatusUnpublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 424 F. App'x 86 (American Corporate Society v. Valley Forge Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Corporate Society v. Valley Forge Insurance, 424 F. App'x 86 (3d Cir. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

Appellant Max Antoine, proceeding pro se, appeals from the District Court’s order dismissing his complaint. 1 For the reasons that follow, we will summarily affirm.

I

In April 2009, law enforcement officials conducted a raid on the Bloomfield, New Jersey office of Antoine’s company, ACS. Antoine was arrested during the raid. After the raid, Antoine contacted ACS’s property insurer, Valley Forge Insurance Company, and submitted a claim for property damage, alleging that the office sustained damage during and after the raid because authorities left it unsecured for three days afterwards. Valley Forge investigated the matter, but ultimately denied ACS’s claim because the damage fell within the policy’s “governmental action” exclusion — i.e., ACS’s policy did not cover *88 damage caused directly or indirectly “by order of governmental authority.”

Antoine and ACS then filed in New Jersey Superior Court a complaint against Valley Forge, claims adjuster James White, and “CNA Insurance Company,” which included 10 counts:

Count 22 2 : breach of contract and insurance fraud;
Count 3: violation of good faith and fair finance dealing;
Count 4: violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act and common law fraud;
Count 5: a claim for recission of contract that was the product of fraud, deception and malice;
Count 6: negligent hiring of adjuster James White;
Count 7: malicious prosecution;
Count 8: personal injuries resulting from the police raid;
Count 9: discrimination under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Americans with Disabilities Act;
Count 10: conspiracy; and
Count 11: “Anti-Trust Law, Broad Defamation.”

The defendants removed the action to the District Court based on diversity of citizenship and filed a motion to dismiss. The District Court granted the motion to dismiss, and Antoine appealed.

II

We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We may affirm on any grounds supported by the record, see Hughes v. Long, 242 F.3d 121, 122 n. 1 (3d Cir.2001), and we may summarily affirm if Antoine does not raise a substantial question on appeal. See 3d Cir. L.A.R. 27.4; 3d Cir. I.O.P. 10.6. We review de novo a district court’s decision to dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. 3 See Dique v. N.J. State Police, 603 F.3d 181, 188 (3d Cir.2010). “In deciding a motion to dismiss, all well-pleaded allegations of the complaint must be taken as true and interpreted in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, and all inferences must be drawn in favor of them.” McTernan v. City of York, 577 F.3d 521, 526 (3d Cir.2009) (internal citation and quotation marks omitted). To withstand a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, “a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, — U.S.-, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). “Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Id. In addition to the complaint and any exhibits attached thereto, we may also consider “an undisputedly authentic document ... attache[d] as an exhibit to [the] motion to dismiss if the plaintiffs claims are based on the document,” such as ACS’s insurance policy. *89 See Pension Benefit Guar. Corp. v. White Consol. Indus., 998 F.2d 1192, 1196 (3d Cir.1993).

The District Court first reasoned that Antoine lacked standing to assert, on his own behalf, Counts 2, 3, 5, 6, and 9, which all stemmed from his dissatisfaction with Valley Forge’s denial of ACS’s insurance claim. We agree. Under New Jersey law, which the District Court was required to apply, see Erie R.R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 78, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938), an individual not a party to a contract may not seek enforcement of that contract “unless it is clear that the parties to the contract intended to confer upon him the right to enforce it.” First Nat’l State Bank of N.J. v. Carlyle House, Inc., 102 N.J.Super. 300, 246 A.2d 22, 34 (N.J.Super.Ct. Ch. Div.1968). As the District Court noted, the Valley Forge policy applies solely to ACS, and nothing in the policy indicates that the parties intended for Antoine to have a personal right of enforcement. Accordingly, the District Court properly dismissed Counts 2, 3, 5, 6, and 9 as to Antoine.

Count 4 was also properly dismissed. Antoine alleged that Valley Forge’s conduct amounted to fraud under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, N.J. Stat. Ann. § 56:8-1, et seq., and at common law. To establish a prima facie case under the Consumer Fraud Act, a litigant must show: “1) unlawful conduct by the defendant; 2) an ascertainable loss by plaintiff; and 3) a causal relationship between the unlawful conduct and the ascertainable loss.” Bosland v. Warnock Dodge, Inc. 197 N.J. 543, 964 A.2d 741, 749 (2009). We perceive no error in the District Court’s determination that dismissal was appropriate because, at base, Antoine’s allegation stemmed from his disagreement with the basis for denying ACS’s insurance claim, not allegedly unlawful conduct. Likewise, Antoine’s claim of common law fraud failed because he did not identify a material misrepresentation by Valley Forge. See Gennari v. Weichert Co. Realtors, 148 N.J. 582, 691 A.2d 350, 367 (1997). Valley Forge’s mere denial of his claim is not evidence of fraudulent misconduct, given the language of the policy exclusion.

The District Court also properly dismissed Antoine’s malicious prosecution claim.

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424 F. App'x 86, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-corporate-society-v-valley-forge-insurance-ca3-2011.