Cook v. State Farm General Insurance Company

Opinion

1 2 3 6 7 JASON COOK, et al., Case No. 21-cv-02458-MMC

8 Plaintiffs, ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFFS' 9 v. MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION COMPANY, 11 Defendant.

12 13 By order filed April 26, 2022, the Court granted defendant State Farm General 14 Insurance Company's ("State Farm") "Motion to Dismiss or Strike Portions of Plaintiffs' 15 Second Amended Complaint." In so ruling, the Court found a proposed injunction 16 requiring State Farm to "determin[e] the payment amount to which each [p]laintiff and 17 Class Member is entitled under the Policy" (see SAC ¶ 81) would require State Farm to 18 pay policy benefits, i.e., "the payment amount," and, consequently, could not be sought 19 under § 17200 of the Business & Professions Code. (See Order, filed April 26, 2022, at 20 4:2-5:2, 5:22-28.) 21 Now before the Court is plaintiffs' "Motion for Leave to File Motion for 22 Reconsideration, or in the Alternative for Leave to Amend," filed May 10, 2022. Having 23 read and considered the motion, the Court rules as follows. 24 Under the Local Rules of this District, a party seeking reconsideration of an 25 interlocutory order must show (1) "a material difference in fact or law exists from that 26 which was presented to the Court before entry of the interlocutory order" and that "in the 27 exercise of reasonable diligence the party applying for reconsideration did not know such 1 facts or a change of law occurring after the time of such order"; or (3) "[a] manifest failure 2 by the Court to consider material facts or dispositive legal arguments which were 3 presented to the Court before such interlocutory order." See Civil L. R. 7-9(b). 4 Here, plaintiffs assert the Court manifestly failed to consider their argument that 5 their proposed injunction was not a request for payment of policy benefits. The Court, 6 however, did consider plaintiffs' argument. In particular, the Court found plaintiffs' 7 argument unpersuasive, given plaintiffs' express allegation that they, as well as all 8 putative class members, are "entitled" to benefits (see Second Amended Complaint 9 ("SAC") ¶ 47 (alleging "State Farm's wrongful denials . . . deprive[d] [p]laintiffs and Class 10 Members of contractual benefits to which they are entitled")), and, as the Court also 11 noted, the requested relief was for an order requiring State Farm to "determin[e] the 12 payment amount to which each [p]laintiff and Class Member is entitled under the Policy" 13 (see SAC ¶ 81 (emphasis added)). 14 Although, in opposing the motion to dismiss, plaintiffs cited to cases in which either 15 an injunction requiring the reopening of a denied claim for benefits was issued or a claim 16 for such relief was allowed to proceed, in those cases, as the Court explained, the 17 plaintiffs therein, unlike the plaintiffs here, did not allege they were entitled to recover 18 benefits. See, e.g., Bowen v. City of New York, 476 U.S. 467, 476, 483 (1986) (affirming 19 injunction requiring Social Security Administration to "reopen the decisions . . . and to 20 redetermine eligibility" using proper procedure; characterizing plaintiffs' claim for 21 injunctive relief as "collateral to the claims for benefits that class members had presented 22 administratively" and noting plaintiffs did not seek award of benefits in district court); Vind 23 v. Prudential Ins. Co., 2008 WL 11337424, at *10 (C.D. Cal. April 2, 2008) (allowing claim 24 for injunctive relief to proceed where plaintiff sought "to compel [ERISA plan 25 administrator] to investigate and make a determination"; noting plaintiff did "not seek to 26 recover benefits due to her under the [p]lan" and that proposed injunction was "directed 27 at the integrity of the claims process itself," a "right separate from the benefits decision"). 1 the motion is hereby DENIED. 2 To the extent plaintiffs, in the alternative, move to amend for purposes of asserting 3 || aclaim for injunctive relief that, according to plaintiffs, would not require payment of any 4 policy benefits, the motion is hereby DENIED without prejudice, as plaintiffs have not 5 || submitted a proposed amended complaint or even set forth the language of any 6 proposed new claim. See Civil L.R. 10-1 (providing party "moving to file an amended 7 || pleading" must submit "proposed pleading"). 9 10 || Dated: June 2, 2022 . INE M. CHESNEY 11 United States District Judge 12

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