Chisholm v. United of Omaha Life Insurance

514 F. Supp. 2d 318, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73020, 2007 WL 2849580
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedSeptember 28, 2007
Docket3:06 CV 1958(MRK)
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 514 F. Supp. 2d 318 (Chisholm v. United of Omaha Life Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chisholm v. United of Omaha Life Insurance, 514 F. Supp. 2d 318, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73020, 2007 WL 2849580 (D. Conn. 2007).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

MARK R. KRAVITZ, District Judge.

Plaintiff Mabel Chisholm filed this action pro se on December 5, 2006. Her Complaint names as defendants the United of Omaha Life Insurance Company (“United”), Compl. [doc. # 1-2] 1 and the State of Connecticut, Department of Social Services (“DSS”), which administers Connecticut’s Medicaid program, Compl. [doc. # 1-3], as required by Connecticut General *321 Statutes § 17b-2. As against United, Ms. Chisholm asserts various tort claims including conspiracy, and invasion of privacy, as well as insurance, health care, mail and wire fraud. She also alleges “racketeering,” which the Court will construe as a claim under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c). See Davis v. Goord, 320 F.3d 346, 352 (2d Cir.2003) (holding that courts should liberally construe pro se pleadings). Finally, Ms. Chisholm alleges that United violated her federal constitutional rights and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Although Ms. Chisholm does not say so, this Court construes her constitutional claims as having been brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and her FOIA claims as arising under the Connecticut Freedom and Information Act, Conn. Gen.Stat. § 1-200 et seq., since the federal Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, applies only to federal agencies. See Grand Cent. P’ship v. Cuomo, 166 F.3d 473, 484 (2d Cir.1999). As against DSS, Ms. Chisholm asserts similar tort claims — specifically, abuse, neglect, cruelty, reckless endangerment, and conspiracy, as well as insurance, health care, mail and wire fraud. She also alleges violations of her federal constitutional rights, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), and Connecticut’s FOIA. 2 Ms. Chisholm seeks money damages from both defendants. Compl. [doc. # 1-2] at 14; [doc. # 1-3] at 20. 3

On February 2, 2007, United and DSS moved to dismiss Ms. Chisholm’s Complaint. See Motions to Dismiss [docs. ##22, 23]. Following briefing, on May 10, 2007, this Court granted Ms. Chisholm’s Motion to Appoint Counsel, see Order [doc. # 50], and her appointed counsel filed a Notice of Appearance [doc. # 55] on May 29, 2007. On June 7, 2007, the Court denied without prejudice Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss [docs. ## 22, 23] to allow Ms. Chisholm an opportunity to file an amended complaint in response to the motions to dismiss. Ms. Chisholm did not file an amended complaint. As a consequence, on July 23 and 24, 2007, Defendants filed Renewed Motions to Dismiss [docs. ## 59, 61] incorporating their earlier Motions to Dismiss [docs. ##22, 23]. 4 For the fol *322 lowing reasons, the Court GRANTS Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss.

I.

As a preliminary matter, although the parties do not address the jurisdictional basis for Ms. Chisholm’s lawsuit, the Court must do so. Perhaps understandably, Ms. Chisholm’s pro se Complaint does not specify whether subject matter jurisdiction exists under the diversity statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1332, because United is an out-of-state corporation, or whether she bases jurisdiction on the presence of a federal question under 28 U.S.C. § 1331. Diversity jurisdiction is not available in this case, because DSS, a state agency, is not a “person” for purposes of diversity jurisdiction, and the presence of DSS therefore destroys complete diversity. See Postal Tel. Cable Co. v. Alabama, 155 U.S. 482, 487, 15 S.Ct. 192, 39 L.Ed. 231 (1894) (“[I]t is well settled that a suit between a state and a citizen ... of another state is not between citizens of different states....”); Wilkerson v. Mo. Dep’t of Mental Health, 279 F.Supp.2d 1079, 1080 (E.D.Mo.2003) (“The inclusion of a Missouri state agency as a defendant ... destroys the required diversity of citizenship.”); Batton v. Ga. Gulf, 261 F.Supp.2d 575, 581 (M.D.La.2003) (holding that presence of State of Louisiana destroyed complete diversity in lawsuit brought by citizens of Louisiana against Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, a non-independent state agency, and various out-of-state manufacturers); accord Tomback v. UnumProvident Corp., No. C 05-3157 CW, 2005 WL 2596449, at *3 (N.D.Cal.2003); Jakoubek v. Fortis Benefits Ins. Co., 301 F.Supp.2d 1045, 1049 (D.Neb.2003). See also Long v. District of Columbia, 820 F.2d 409, 416 (D.C.Cir.1987) (holding that absent dismissal of District of Columbia as a “noncitizen” and therefore nondiverse defendant, federal diversity jurisdiction would be lacking in suit against a diverse co-defendant); Ogden Dunes v. Bethlehem Steel Corp., 996 F.Supp. 850, 853 (N.D.Ind.1998) (holding that no federal jurisdiction existed over co-defendant steel companies where join-der of state agency as defendant destroyed complete diversity). However, Ms. Chisholm does assert federal question claims against each Defendant. Therefore, 28 U.S.C. § 1331 provides the Court with subject matter jurisdiction to consider her federal claims, and 28 U.S.C. § 1367 permits the Court to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over her related state law claims. See Phillips v. Audio Active Ltd., 494 F.3d 378, 392 (2d Cir.2007). 5

*323 II.

On a motion to dismiss, the Court “accept[s] as true all factual statements alleged in the complaint and draw[s] all reasonable inferences in favor of’ Ms. Chisholm. McCarthy v. Dun & Bradstreet Corp., 482 F.3d 184, 191 (2d Cir.2007); see Desiano v. Warner-Lambert Co., 326 F.3d 339, 347 (2d Cir.2003). The Court will briefly recite the facts here and discuss them further in the course of assessing each of Ms. Chisholm’s claims.

Until 2001, Ms. Chisholm was a recipient of Medicaid benefits, a program administered by DSS; she also had a life insurance policy with United. Ms.

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Bluebook (online)
514 F. Supp. 2d 318, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73020, 2007 WL 2849580, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chisholm-v-united-of-omaha-life-insurance-ctd-2007.