Connect America Holdings, LLC v. Arch Insurance

174 F. Supp. 3d 894, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43379, 2016 WL 1254073
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 31, 2016
DocketCIVIL ACTION No. 14-4784
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 174 F. Supp. 3d 894 (Connect America Holdings, LLC v. Arch Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Connect America Holdings, LLC v. Arch Insurance, 174 F. Supp. 3d 894, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43379, 2016 WL 1254073 (E.D. Pa. 2016).

Opinion

[897]*897 MEMORANDUM OPINION

Savage, District Judge.

The central question in this insurance coverage action is whether the claims asserted in a 2013 lawsuit against the plaintiffs Connect America Holdings, LLC (“CA Holdings”), ConnectAmerica.com, LLC (“ConnectAmerica.com”), and Kenneth Gross (collectively, “Connect”) are interrelated to claims that had been asserted in a lawsuit filed and settled five years earlier. If they are related, the interrelated wrongful acts exclusion in the claims-made policy issued by the defendant Arch Insurance Co. (“Arch”) bars coverage.

Connect has moved for partial summary judgment on the issue of whether Arch properly denied coverage for an action in which Connect was sued by Life Alert Emergency Response, Inc. (“Life Alert”) for trademark infringement, unfair competition, false advertising, and other related claims. Arch has filed a cross motion for summary judgment.

We conclude that the wrongful acts alleged in the two lawsuits are not related within the meaning of the policy. However, there are other policy provisions that may preclude or limit coverage. Whether they do depends on credibility determinations and the resolution of disputed material facts. Therefore, we shall deny Arch’s motion and grant Connect’s motion as they relate to the interrelated wrongful acts exclusion.

Factual Background

Life Alert and Connect are competitors in the medical alert response systems market. To preserve its dominant position in the market, Life Alert has sued or threatened to sue Connect when it believed Connect was infringing on its well-known trademarks, “Life Alert” and “I’ve Fallen,” and was misleading consumers by creating the impression that Connect is Life Alert.

In 2004, Life Alert accused Connect of trademark infringement and dilution, and unfair competition.1 It charged that Connect was using Life- Alert’s trademarks “Help, I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up” and “Life Alert” to promote, advertise, distribute and sell Connect’s medical alert systems.2 The marks appeared in metatags of Connect’s website, MedicaLAlarm.com, and in search terms on the internet.3 Faced with the threat of litigation, Connect agreed to cease and desist from using the marks.4

'Four years later, on July 14, 2008, Life Alert filed a complaint against Qonneet and two other defendants in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.5 In that complaint, Life Alert alleged that ConnectAmerica.com, CVS Caremark Corp., and CVS Pharmacy, Inc. violated Life Alert’s trademarks.6 The complaint asserted three causes of action: (1) federal trademark infringement under § 32 of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1114; (2) unfair competition and false designation of origin under § 43 of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a); and (3) unfair competition in violation of California law.7 The 2008 complaint was dismissed [898]*898without prejudice on May 6, 2009 for failure to comply with a scheduling order.8

Approximately one month later, on June 9, 2009, Life Alert filed an almost identical complaint in the same court.9 The 2009 action named the same defendants as the 2008 action and added Kenneth Gross, Connect’s CEO.10 The complaint stated the same three causes of action as did the 2008 complaint.11 It alleged the defendants had violated Life Alert’s trademarks through: “(a) sponsored internet advertisements, (b) internet keyword searches, metatags, source code and web pages for their websites, and (c) inquiries by potential customers to the ‘1-800’ telephone number for the products and services being sold by Defendants.” 12

Connect and Life Alert settled the 2009 action for a payment of $375,000 and the entry of a permanent injunction enjoining Connect from using Life Alert’s trademarks.13 Gross was not a party to the settlement agreement.14 Pursuant to the settlement agreement, a final judgment and a permanent injunction were entered on September 25,2009.15

On May 14, 2013, Life Alert filed the lawsuit at the core of this dispute. Life Alert sued ConnectAmerica.com and its CEO, Kenneth Gross, in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.16 Also named as defendants were LifeWateh, Inc., Evan Sirlin, Live Agent Response 1 LLC, Greg Small, Trilogy Investment, LLC, and ten John Does.17 The complaint stated four causes of action: (1) unfair competition and false designation of origin in violation of § 43 of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a); (2) unfair competition under California statutory and common law; (3) federal trademark infringement under § 32 of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1114; and (4) trademark dilution under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(c).18

The complaint alleged Connect and Life-Watch engaged in an illegal and fraudulent telemarketing operation that infringed Life Alert’s trademarks, including the name “Life Alert” and the trademark “Help, I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up!”19 Life Alert asserted Connect and Life-Watch, through the co-defendants, called potential customers, sometimes using false caller identifications, representing they worked for “Life Alert” or the “I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up!” company.20 Only after customers purchased the equipment and received a letter from Gross and Evan Sirlin, LifeWatch’s CEO, were the true identities of Connect and LifeWateh revealed.21 Connect also placed robo-calls to existing Life Alert customers urging them [899]*899to update their equipment. Customers who purchased the new equipment received Connect equipment instead of Life Alert’s.22

The complaint was amended to add a cause of action for false advertising under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a).23 The amended complaint added two new defendants, Michael Hilgar and Worldwide Info Services, Inc.24 It included additional details of Life Alert’s claim regarding the phone scam.25 Life Alert alleged Connect, which had only-started business in 2004, falsely claimed on its website and in other media it was the original medical alert company that had been providing emergency response services since 1977.26

One of the trademarks at issue in the 2013 action was “Life Alert Mobile,” which did not exist at the time the 2009 action was dismissed.27 Life Alert, in the 2013 action, did not seek damages for violation of the 2009 injunction.28

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Bluebook (online)
174 F. Supp. 3d 894, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43379, 2016 WL 1254073, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/connect-america-holdings-llc-v-arch-insurance-paed-2016.