Cash v. AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co.

229 F. Supp. 3d 542, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7838, 2017 WL 280823
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Texas
DecidedJanuary 19, 2017
DocketCivil Action No. SA-16-CV-279-XR
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 229 F. Supp. 3d 542 (Cash v. AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cash v. AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co., 229 F. Supp. 3d 542, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7838, 2017 WL 280823 (W.D. Tex. 2017).

Opinion

[544]*544ORDER

XAVIER RODRIGUEZ, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

On this date, the Court considered the status of the above captioned case and its pending motions. After careful consideration, the Court GRANTS Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket no. 34) and Motion for Leave to File Sur-Reply (Docket no. 33), and DENIES Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket no. 26).

BACKGROUND

I. Factual History

a. Cash’s Insurance Policy

Plaintiff Peggy Cash obtained a flexible premium variable life insurance policy from Defendant AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company on August 23, 2000, naming her husband, Plaintiff Lenard Cash, as the insured.1 Docket no. 30-2 at 2. In short, a flexible premium variable policy “[does] not require fixed premium payments,” but rather “allow[s] the policyholder to choose the amount and frequency of payments, which are deposited into an investment account associated with the policy.” Docket no. 34 at 4. Id. To keep the Policy in force, the Net Cash Surrender Value of the account, which is the value of the account less certain charges, loans, and interest, must be sufficient to cover a monthly deduction on the first day of each policy month (in Cash’s case, the 23rd). Docket no. 34-1 at 2-3; see Docket no. 30-2 at 9. Otherwise, the Policy defaults. Docket no. 34—i at 3; Docket no. 30-2 at 15. Though the Policy provides for the payment of planned quarterly premiums (in Cash’s case, $6,500.00), the nature of the Policy is that these premiums are neither necessary nor sufficient to prevent the Policy from defaulting; the Policy will default if the Net Cash Surrender Value of the account does not cover the monthly deduction, regardless of whether the quarterly premiums are paid.2

The Policy contains the following language regarding a default:

If the policy is in default, we will send you and any assignee of our records at last known addresses written notice stating that a grace period of 61-days has begun starting with the date the notice is mailed. The notice will also state the amount of payment that is due.
The payment required will not be more than an amount sufficient to increase the Net Cash Surrender Value to cover all monthly deductions for 3 months calculated assuming no interest or investment performance was credited or charged against the Policy Account and no policy changes were made. If the default occurs during the No Lapse Guarantee or Death Benefit Guarantee period, the payment required will be the lesser of the amount just described or the amount necessary to pass the Guarantee Premium fund test.
If we do not receive such amount at our Administrative Office before the end of the grace period, we will then: (1) withdraw and retain any amount in your Policy Account; and (2) send a written notice to you and any assignee on our [545]*545records at last known addresses stating that this policy has ended without value.
If we receive the requested amount before the end of the grace period, but the Net Cash Surrender Value is still insufficient to cover total monthly deductions, we will send a written notice that a new 61-day grace period has begun and request an additional payment.

Docket no. 30-2 at 15-16. Thus, a default triggers the sending of a notice of lapse, which begins a 61-day grace period for a policyholder to pay the required amount and keep the policy in force without interruption. See id.

b. Cash’s Default and First Notice of Lapse

On May 23, 2013, Cash’s policy defaulted, according to the affidavit of Jeremy Bottorff, a manager of client relations at AXA. Docket no. 34-1 at 1, 3. This default triggered AXA’s computer-automated process for sending Cash a notice of lapse. Id. at 3. According to Bottorff, AXA’s computer system automatically detects when a policy is in default. Id. The system then generates a corresponding notice of lapse, which informs the policyholder that the policy has entered the 61-day grace period and specifies the amount due by the end of the period in order to keep the policy in force. Id. at 4. These notices are generated in batches overnight, and are automatically sent electronically to Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., a third-party vendor, for printing and mailing. Id.

Bottorff testified that this is precisely what happened on May 23, 2013 when AXA’s system detected a default in Cash’s policy. Id. His. affidavit includes a report title for a batch of letters that were sent to Broadridge.3 Id. at 4, n.1. Within this batch was the first Notice of Lapse that AXA sent to Cash on May 24, 2013,4 and Bot-torff attached an electronic copy of this notice to his affidavit.5 Id.; Docket no. 34-7. The May 24 Notice notifies Cash that $21,622.00 is due by July 23, 2013 in order to prevent the Policy from terminating.6 Id.

Colleen O’Brien is a client relations manager for transaction reporting at Broa-dridge, the company that prints and mails AXA’s notices of lapse. Docket no. 34-19 at 2. She provided an affidavit discussing the details of the same report referenced by Bottorff.7 Id. at 3. Her affidavit states that on May 23, 2013, Broadridge received two files from AXA, constituting 27 total pieces to be printed and mailed to customers of either AXA or MONY Life Insurance Company; of these 27 pieces, 21 were for customers of AXA. Id. at 3. All 27 pieces— including the 21 specific to AXA policies— were “printed, processed, and presented to [546]*546a third party vendor for mailing on May 24.” Id.

Herb Eroh is a vice president/general manager at Pitney Bowes Presort Services, Inc., the third-party vendor referenced in O’Brien’s affidavit. Docket no. 34-20 at 2. He provided an affidavit indicating that Pitney Bowes contracted to pick up documents printed by Broadridge and deliver them to the USPS for mailing. Id. He testified that on May 24, 2013, Pitney Bowes carried out its end of this process by delivering mail from job 307—a job number keyed to AXA documents printed by Broadridge—to the USPS. Id.

Cash stated in an affidavit that she never received the May 24 Notice of Lapse; based on this fact, she believes AXA never sent it. Docket no. 32-1. She would have received it at her office, which is the address on file for her policy and the address at which she received previous letters from AXA. Docket nos. 33-5, 33-6. At her deposition, Cash stated that around May 24, 2013, she was out of the office often with medical issues, forcing her employees to regularly carry out an elaborate process to receive mail at the office, deliver it to her for inspection off-site, and return it to the office for filing. Docket no. 34-15 at 4-7.

c. Cash’s Second Notice of Lapse

On May 28, 2013, Cash made a $6,500.00 payment towards her account. Docket nos. 34-1 at 4, 34-8. Because this payment was less than the amount requested in the May 24 Notice of Lapse, the Policy remained in default, but the payment slightly reduced the total amount due. Docket no. 34-1 at 4.

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229 F. Supp. 3d 542, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7838, 2017 WL 280823, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cash-v-axa-equitable-life-insurance-co-txwd-2017.