American General Life Insurance v. Schoenthal Family, L.L.C.

248 F.R.D. 298, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2973, 2008 WL 160630
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedJanuary 15, 2008
DocketNo. 1:06-cv-0695-WSD
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 248 F.R.D. 298 (American General Life Insurance v. Schoenthal Family, L.L.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American General Life Insurance v. Schoenthal Family, L.L.C., 248 F.R.D. 298, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2973, 2008 WL 160630 (N.D. Ga. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

WILLIAM S. DUFFEY, JR., District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff American General Life Insurance Company’s (“American”) Motion for Summary Judgment [130]. Also before the Court is Defendants’ Motion to Exclude Plaintiffs Expert Harold Skipper [132], Defendant’s Motion to Exclude Affidavit of Kent Major and Opinion Testimony of Amy Holmwood [137], and American’s Motion to Exclude Defendants’ Proposed Expert Testimony of Gregory G. Wimmer [125].

I. BACKGROUND

The litigation appears, at first, simply to concern whether American is entitled to deny a claim for benefits under a $7 million insur-[301]*301anee policy (the “Schoenthal Policy”) issued in 2004, insuring the life of Samuel Schoen-thal, an 82-year old man. A careful examination, however, reveals that the Schoenthal Policy was the product of a complicated insurance investment mechanism for which Samuel Schoenthal technically did not qualify, and in which he ultimately retained very little financial interest in the policy that nominally was intended to insure his life. The heart of this ease, however, is the undisputed fact that the application for the Schoenthal Policy contained gross misrepresentations of Samuel Schoenthal’s net worth and yearly income.

A. The Liberty Program

On September 7, 2004, an application for life insurance was submitted seeking an insurance policy on the life of Samuel Schoen-thal.1 It is undisputed that Samuel Schoen-thal did not seek life insurance simply to provide for his family in the event of his death, or even to settle anticipated estate obligations. Samuel Schoenthal was solicited to participate in the “Liberty Premium Finance Program” (“Liberty Program”), which, purports to be an estate-planning service for high net-worth individuals.

The Liberty Program involves a maze of related entities. The Liberty Program, to the Court’s best understanding, is owned and run by Horizon Trade and Finance, Ltd. (“Horizon”), an Irish company. Horizon initiated the creation of several trusts, including the Liberty One Master Trust and Defendant Liberty One Funding Trust (collectively, the “Liberty Trusts”).

Credit Suisse Bank finances the Liberty Program, providing start-up funds with which the Liberty Trusts can purchase annuities and life insurance. Credit Suisse secures the credit it extends to the Liberty Program against the policies and annuities.

The Wells Fargo Delaware Trust Company (“Wells Fargo”) is the trustee for the Liberty Trusts. Wells Fargo appears to act at the direction of Horizon and Credit Suisse. Wells Fargo was, among other things, required by either Horizon or Credit Suisse to purchase “contestability insurance” to cover any losses to the Liberty Program if American refused to pay benefits on the Schoenthal Policy. The contestability insurance policy purchased by Wells Fargo requires it to resist, as it is doing here, any denial of claim benefits.2

The Liberty Program appears to operate generally by facilitating financing for annuities and high-value life insurance policies for wealthy elderly individuals. An annuity is used to pay the life insurance premium on behalf of the insured. A portion of the life insurance policy benefits are assigned from the insured to a trust entity that is part of the Liberty Program. In this case, $6.68 million of the $7 million value of the Schoen-thal Policy was assigned to the Liberty One Funding Trust. A portion of the benefits remains unassigned, and is paid to the insurance policy beneficiary. In this case, the Schoenthal Family, LLC retains $320,000 in benefits. When the insured dies, the assigned portion of the life insurance proceeds accrues to the Liberty Program, which uses the money to cover the transaction costs of the insurance policy and premium, and apparently retains the remainder.

It is unclear from the record how Samuel Schoenthal became involved in the Liberty Program. It appears that his involvement in the Liberty Program was solicited by Horizon, Credit Suisse, or entities or persons acting on their behalf.3

B. The Policy Application Process

The application that resulted in the issuance of the Schoenthal Policy was submitted [302]*302on September 7, 2004. The application was solicited by Marc Dovi Faivish (“Faivish”) and Nathan Chopp (“Chopp”), individuals working at the direction of independent insurance agent Amy Holmwood (“Holm-wood”), president of HK Ventures, Inc. (“HK Ventures”).4

Holmwood was the “writing agent” for the Schoenthal Policy application. She filled in the Schoenthal Policy application, including the financial representations, using the information solicited from Samuel Schoenthal by Faivish. Holmwood did not have personal knowledge of the accuracy of the representations in the Schoenthal Policy application, including the financial representations.

The application stated that insurance was being sought for “estate planning” purposes. The application further stated that Samuel Schoenthal’s net worth was $10.7 million and that his annual income was more than $150,000. The application also contained information about Samuel Schoenthal’s age and medical condition.5 Samuel Schoenthal signed the application containing these representations.

HK Ventures sought third party verification of the financial statements in the application. HK Ventures accepted as verification a Liberty One Funding Trust questionnaire concerning Samuel Schoen-thal’s involvement in the Liberty Program. The questionnaire, also signed by Samuel Schoenthal, confirmed the financial representations in the application. This questionnaire was not transmitted to American.

The application also contained an “agent report.” The agent report was, in this case, incomplete, and, to some degree, misleading. For example, Holmwood stated that she had known Samuel Schoenthal for one year. Holmwood, in deposition, explained that she meant that Samuel Schoenthal had been “in underwriting” or in her “world” for a year, not that she knew him personally for that length of time. The agent report also asked a series of questions about the agent’s relationship and contacts with the applicant. Holmwood did not answer these questions.6 Based on this application, American issued the Schoenthal Policy in the amount of $7 million.

C. The Claim Denial

On July 14, 2005, Samuel Schoenthal died, and a claim for benefits was promptly filed. American conducted a contestable claim investigation, in which it reviewed Schoenthal’s application, including the medical and financial information. The investigation disclosed that the application’s statements of net worth and yearly income were grossly misrepresented. The investigation asserted Samuel Schoenthal’s net worth was only about $160,000, not the $10.7 million stated on the application, and his annual income was only about $7200, not the $160,000 stated on the application. In the substantial briefing in this case, and in specific discussions on the issue of misrepresentation between Defendants and the Court, Defendants have not denied that the application for the Sehoen-thal Policy drastically misrepresented Samuel Schoenthal’s net worth and yearly income.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
248 F.R.D. 298, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2973, 2008 WL 160630, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-general-life-insurance-v-schoenthal-family-llc-gand-2008.