Behrens v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance

834 F. Supp. 1468, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19277, 1993 WL 432128
CourtDistrict Court, D. Nebraska
DecidedMay 14, 1993
DocketNo. 8:CV 92-00697
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 834 F. Supp. 1468 (Behrens v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nebraska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Behrens v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance, 834 F. Supp. 1468, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19277, 1993 WL 432128 (D. Neb. 1993).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

KOPF, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on the defendants’ motion for summary judgment. (Filing 3). In support of their motion, defendants have submitted briefs as well as various affidavits with supporting documentary exhibits (Filings 9 and 10). Plaintiff has filed a brief in opposition to the motion as well as his own affidavit (Filing 6). For the reasons more fully discussed below, the defendants’ motion will be granted in part, and held in abeyance in part.

[1469]*1469I. Background

a. The Parties

Plaintiff was employed by defendant John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company (“John Hancock”) from January 1,1984, until August of 1988. (Filing 9, Affidavit of Paul M. Heaslip at ¶ 7; Filing 1, Complaint at ¶ 12). Defendant John Hancock Variable Life Insurance Company (“Variable”) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of John Hancock, through which variable life insurance products are sold. (Id. at ¶ 3). When a Marketing Representative terminates or has his employment with John Hancock terminated for any reasons, his authority to market products of Variable is automatically terminated as well. (Id. at ¶ 5).

Defendant John Hancock Distributors, Inc. (“Distributors”) is in the business of marketing investment products such as mutual funds and other securities, and is a registered broker dealer with the National Association of Securities Dealers (“NASD”).1 (Filing 9, Buckley Affidavit at ¶ 2). Distributors does not, however, sell insurance products. (Id. at ¶ 3).

Distributors utilizes the services of independent contractors, called Registered Representatives or Sales Representatives, to market its investment products. The independent contractors are required to register with the NASD as a precondition to becoming a Distributors’ representative. (Id. at ¶ 4).

John Hancock is a parent company of Distributors (Id. at ¶5), and Distributors uses John Hancock Marketing Representatives as the “core group” of its independent contractors. (Id. at ¶ 6). Once an individual is hired by John Hancock, he is eligible, upon registration with the NASD, to become a Registered Representative of Distributors also. As it is with Variable, if a John Hancock Marketing Representative terminates or has his employment with John Hancock terminated for any reason, his relationship with Distributors is automatically terminated as well. (Id. at ¶7).

From 1984 until October 19, 1987, plaintiff was employed as a Marketing Representative for John Hancock. (Filing 9, Heaslip Affidavit at ¶ 7). On October 19, 1987, he was promoted to Staff Manager, which is a supervisory position. (Id.) On June 13, 1988, he returned to his position as a Marketing Representative, where he remained for the remaining months of his employment. (Id.)

During the time that plaintiff was employed as a Marketing Representative for John Hancock, he was a member of the collective bargaining unit.2 The collective bargaining agreement which covers John Hancock Marketing Representatives also covers those representatives when they sell products of Variable. (Id. at ¶4). Both parties agree that for that period of time when he was employed as a Staff Manager, he was not a member of the collective bargaining unit. (Behrens’ Affidavit, Filing 6 at ¶ 2; Filing 9, Heaslip Affidavit at ¶ 1; Defendants’ Brief at p. 3 n. 3).

During the time that he was a member of the bargaining unit, the Union was the plaintiffs exclusive bargaining agent, and the terms and conditions of his employment as a Marketing Representative were governed by the agreement between John Hancock and the Union.3 (Id. at ¶ 1; Filing 9, Exhibit B — Agreement at Article I). Articles V and VI of the agreement establish a grievance and arbitration procedure which provides the [1470]*1470exclusive avenue by which employees may redress all employment-related disputes. Article V requires that “[A]ll grievances between the Marketing Representative and the Company shall be disposed of in accordance with the following relations procedure of this Article.” (Id. at Article V). Following the completion of a four-step “Relations Procedure” set out in Article V, Article VI provides that grievances may be submitted to “final and binding” arbitration. (Id. at Article VI).

b. The Facts

The plaintiff alleges that prior to his employ with the defendants he had no experience or education in the area of insurance, investments or other financial products, and therefore, the defendants undertook to train and educate the plaintiff in each of these areas .. .4 (Filing 1, Petition at ¶ 3). Throughout his tenure with the defendants, all of plaintiffs training and education was provided by or through the defendants. (Id.). In the spring of 1988, the defendants undertook an investigation of activities at the Omaha office and that “[a]s a result of the investigation and at the request of Defendants under threat of forced demotion, on June 13, 1988, Plaintiff resigned his sales manager position.” (Filing 2, Petition at ¶ 10). The plaintiff did continue to work for defendants as a Marketing Representative. However, “[throughout the spring and summer of 1988 and in particular after his forced resignation, Defendants reversed Plaintiffs commissions” so that “[b]y August of 1988, Plaintiff was not receiving any commissions for business written because Defendants were offsetting the reversals against such income.” (Id. at ¶ 11). Therefore, “[because Defendants wrongfully prevented Plaintiff from earning commissions, on August of 1988 (sic), Plaintiff was forced to resign from the Defendant companies.” (Id. at ¶ 12). The plaintiff never filed any grievances in relation to the claims he asserts in his petition. (Heaslip Aff. at ¶2).

Plaintiff filed this action in the District Court of Douglas County, Nebraska, on June 12, 1992. (Id. at p. 1). The petition contains four causes of action asserted against all three defendants with the plaintiff alleging as follows: (1) the defendants breached the “employment agreement” in their failure to adequately and reasonably train the plaintiff and their failure to pay the agreed upon commissions; (2) the defendants undertook to train and educate the plaintiff in the financial service industry but they did so in a negligent manner; (3) “throughout the summer of 1988” the defendants agents and employees contacted various clients of plaintiff, and in order to induce the clients to reverse business transactions placed with plaintiff, the agents and employees made “false, defamatory and malicious statements” regarding the plaintiff which resulted in the intentional infliction of mental distress to the plaintiff; and (4) defendants’ actions resulted in plaintiff being wrongfully terminated.

The defendants removed the action to this court in December of 1992. The defendants then filed a motion for summary judgment. Defendants John Hancock and Variable al[1471]*1471lege that plaintiffs claims against them are preempted by federal labor law and thus barred by the applicable statute of limitations, and fail to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. (Filing 3 at p. 1-2). Defendant Distributors alleges that the plaintiff has failed to state a claim against it, or that at a minimum, plaintiffs claims must be stayed pending the submission of plaintiffs dispute with Distributors to NASD arbitration. (Id. at p. 2).

II. LEGAL ANALYSIS

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Bluebook (online)
834 F. Supp. 1468, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19277, 1993 WL 432128, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/behrens-v-john-hancock-mutual-life-insurance-ned-1993.