Catlin Insurance Company, Inc. v. Danko

District Court, N.D. California·Decided December 20, 2021·No. 4:20-cv-01345·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 6 7 CATLIN INSURANCE COMPANY, INC., Case No. 20-cv-01345-HSG 8 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY 9 v. JUDGMENT 10 DANKO MEREDITH, Re: Dkt. No. 35 11 Defendant. 12 13 Pending before the Court is Plaintiff Catlin Insurance Company, Inc’s motion for summary 14 judgment. Dkt. No. 35. The Court heard argument on the motion. For the reasons detailed 15 below, the Court GRANTS the motion. 17 Plaintiff Catlin Insurance Company, Inc. filed this action to recover a duplicative 18 settlement payment that it made in connection with an underlying lawsuit in California state court. 19 See Dkt. No. 14 (“FAC”). 20 The facts of this case are largely undisputed. Following a plane crash in July 2012, 21 Defendant Danko Meredith represented the heirs of one of the decedents, Michael Boolen, in a 22 wrongful death action. See Dkt. No. 36-1 (“Danko Decl.”) at ¶ 2; see also id. at Ex. A. The heirs 23 sued Able Air Corporation, an aircraft maintenance facility, in California state court. Id. The 24 heirs claimed that the plane had been negligently maintained and operated, leading to the crash. 25 See Danko Decl., Ex. A. Plaintiff Catlin Insurance1 provided liability insurance coverage for Able 26 1 During the hearing, Plaintiff clarified that there are other related entities—“AXA XL” and “XL 27 Catlin”—involved in the underlying litigation. Nevertheless, because Plaintiff paid the duplicative 1 Air to defend itself in the litigation. See Dkt. No. 35-2 (“Breitenbach Decl.”) at ¶ 3. In October 2 2017, Able Air settled with one of the heirs, LaVerne Boolen. See id. at ¶ 5. Defendant provided 3 a statutory offer to compromise for $180,000, which Ms. Boolen signed on October 3, 2017. See 4 Dank Decl., Ex. B. The settlement was subsequently memorialized in a written agreement, dated 5 March 5, 2018 (“Release of Claims”). See id.; Dkt. No. 35-3 (“Hanson Decl.”), Ex. A. In the 6 Release of Claims, Ms. Boolen agreed to: 7 release[] all claims and damages against [Able Air and Catlin 8 Insurance] arising or to arise on account of . . . [c]laims and damages arising out of the certain incident occurring on July 5, 2012, [and as 9 described more fully in the state court complaint]. 10 11 See Hanson Decl., Ex. A at 2. The agreement further stated that it is:

12 the intent of this agreement to fully compromise any all claims which [Ms. Boolen] now has or may hereafter acquire in any manner by 13 reason of or even remotely arising out of the incident . . . . 14 15 Id. at 3. In exchange, Able Air and Catlin Insurance agreed to pay Plaintiff $180,000. Id. at 1. 16 According to Defendant, Able Air and Catlin Insurance did not pay, and Ms. Boolen 17 moved to enforce the settlement under California Code of Civil Procedure § 664.6. See Danko 18 Decl. at ¶ 5. On April 27, 2018, Defendant sent an email saying that it would draft a complaint for 19 breach of contract if the settlement funds were not promptly transferred. See Dkt. No. 35-1, Ex. A 20 at 24. Defendant asserts that at the time it believed Ms. Boolen therefore had “potential claims 21 against Able Air and its insurer for breach of contract, unfair business practices, and intentional 22 infliction of emotional distress given the actions of Catlin and/or its insured, Able Air.” See 23 Danko Decl. at ¶ 7. 24 Regardless, on April 30, 2018, Plaintiff wired the settlement payment in the amount of 25 $180,000 to Defendant’s client trust account. See Breitenbach Decl., Ex. B. Wells Fargo also 26 confirmed that day that the $180,000 wire transfer was successfully processed. See id., Ex. C. 27 1 The “Originator to Beneficiary Information” listed on the wire transfer stated “LaVerne Boolen 2 settlement.” Id., Ex. B. Two days later, on May 2, 2018, Plaintiff sent Defendant a check, also in 3 the amount of $180,000, made out to “Danko Meredith Client Trust Account.” See id., Ex. D. 4 The check did not include a reference to Ms. Boolen or the settlement. Plaintiff explains that this 5 check was not authorized and was sent in error. See id. at ¶ 9. Plaintiff further explains that the 6 mistake was the result of a design limitation in the company’s financing software. See Danko 7 Decl., Ex. F at 43:4–45:22. When a wire transfer is made, someone in finance must then manually 8 update the system to convert the entry to an “accounting entry” in order to prevent a check from 9 being issued automatically. See id. 10 Defendant appears to concede that it received this duplicative payment. See Dkt. No. 36 at 11 1 (“Catlin paid money to Laverne Boolen. Then it paid the money again.”). Shawn Miller, an 12 attorney at Danko Meredith, testified that he and Michael Danko, another attorney at the firm, 13 were initially confused about why Plaintiff sent the check. See Dkt. No. 35-1, Ex. A (“Miller 14 Depo.”) at 24:20–25:8, 26:8–27:1, 33:6–16. Mr. Miller recalled learning that it was a duplicative 15 payment—and not just a record of the wire transfer—in May or June 2018. See id. 16 In the interim, the underlying action proceeded to trial on behalf of the remaining heirs on 17 June 18, 2018. See Dkt. No. 35 at 2. Because she had settled her claims, Ms. Boolen did not 18 pursue any claims at the trial. See Hanson Decl. at ¶ 9; see also Miller Depo. at 33:17–34:3, 19 34:17–35:4. The jury returned a defense verdict, though the heirs indicated that they would 20 appeal. See Breitenbach Decl. at ¶ 11. The parties subsequently entered into a global settlement 21 agreement, which included Ms. Boolen, the other heirs, Able Air, and Plaintiff. See Danko Decl., 22 Ex. C (“Mutual Waiver Agreement”). In the Mutual Waiver Agreement, the heirs agreed to waive 23 their rights to appeal the judgment from trial, as well as any post-trial litigation arising from the 24 jury trial and plane crash. See id. at 1–2. They further agreed that the plane wreckage could be 25 destroyed. See id. at 2. Able Air and Catlin, in turn, agreed to waive the right to recover any and 26 all costs claimed in its cost bill. Id. 27 As relevant to this motion, the Mutual Waiver Agreement also included language that the 1 a full and final and complete waiver and discharge of all claims of 2 every sort and nature whether arising in law or equity that might or could be made on account of or resulting from matters litigated in the 3 jury trial that commenced on June 18, 2018, the incident [plane crash] occurring on July 5, 2012 and matters described herein. 4 5 Id. at 2. The parties also waived California Civil Code § 1542, which states: 6 A general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does 7 not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release, which if known by him or her must have materially 8 affected his or her settlement with the debtor. 9 10 Id. The Mutual Waiver Agreement was signed between December 2018 and February 2019. Id. 11 Months later, in July 2019, Plaintiff’s accounting department notified Mark Breitenbach, a 12 practice leader in Plaintiff’s aviation program, that Catlin had sent a duplicative payment to 13 Defendant. See Breitenbach Decl. at ¶¶ 12–13; see also Danko Decl., Ex. F at 59:1–63:13. Mr. 14 Breitenbach, in turn, notified Catlin’s attorney John Hanson about the payment. See Breitenbach 15 Decl. at ¶ 13. Mr. Hanson then contacted Defendant and requested the return of the duplicative 16 payment. See Hanson Decl. at ¶ 5, & Ex. B. Defendant refused to return the funds. See id. at 17 ¶¶ 6–7, & Ex. C. Mr. Danko, citing the Mutual Waiver Agreement, stated simply that “[t]he 18 parties having mutually waived and discharged all claims they had or could have against one 19 another, this case is now closed.” See id., Ex. C. 20 Based on these facts, Plaintiff initially brought three causes of action against Defendant: 21 (1) unjust enrichment; (2) conversion; and (3) breach of fiduciary duty. See FAC at ¶¶ 22–34. 22 The Court dismissed the fiduciary duty claim, see Dkt. No.

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