Evanston Insurance v. Mellors

141 F. Supp. 3d 1367, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132780, 2015 WL 5786745
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Georgia
DecidedSeptember 30, 2015
DocketCASE NO. CV413-136
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 141 F. Supp. 3d 1367 (Evanston Insurance v. Mellors) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Evanston Insurance v. Mellors, 141 F. Supp. 3d 1367, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132780, 2015 WL 5786745 (S.D. Ga. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER

WILLIAM T. MOORE, JR.,

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

Before the Court is Plaintiffs Motion for Summar Judgment (Doc. 71) to which Defendants Joey Herren, Sharon Herren, William Mellors and Curtis Huffman filed responses (Doc. 81; Doc. 64; Doc. 85). For the following reasons, Plaintiffs motion is DENIED. This case will proceed to trial.

BACKGROUND

This case arises out of a dispute regarding the insurance coverage offered by Plaintiff Evanston Insurance Company to June & Johnny, LLC (“J&J” or “insured”), a mixer and seller of athletic supplements. One of the supplements, RAGE, is alleged to have caused a stroke that Mr. Herren suffered in August, 2009. (Doe. 71 at 12.) Plaintiff is currently seeking a declaratory judgment from this Court that it is not obligated to defend William Mellors, a purported owner and manager of J&J, from the claims brought against him by the Herren’s. (Doc. 67.)

Mr. Mellors has a history of involvement in the mixing, development, and sale of athletic supplements. In 2007, Mr. Mellors was engaged in a partnership known as S&W Enterprises, which worked with Liken Enterprises d/b/a Active Nutrition Company (“ANC”) to manufacture and sell supplements. (Doc. 81 at 2.) S&W later acquired possession of mixing equipment owned by another company named Barrin Innovations, LLC. (Id. at 2-3.) Around February 23,2009, Mr. Mellors gave notice that he was dissolving S&W’s partnership, although he continued operating S&W as usual. (Id. at 3.) In February 2009, J&J was registered with its listed owner as Shala Stephenson, Mr. Mellors’s wife. While Mrs. Stephenson is listed as J&J owner, there is some dispute as to her actual role in the company. (Doe. 71 at 4; Doe. 81 at 4.) On February 25, 2009, Mr. Mellors purchased1 the assets Mr. Barnard owned in both Rockhard Formulations, LLC and Barrin Innovations, LLC. (Doc. 71, Attach. 4 at 2; Doc. 81 at 3.) The purchase agreement required the buyer to indemnify the seller from any liability “arising from the actions of the business including but not limited to liabilities incurred, outstanding debts, harm caused by products and/or machinery owned or produced by the businesses.” (Doc. 71, Attach. 4 at 3.) Among the products that Barrin blended was RAGE. After this purchase, [1371]*1371J&J began blending RAGE independently. (Doc. 81 at 4.)

As early as 2008, the Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”) began receiving public comments about whether a. RAGE ingredient, Phera-Plex, should be classified as a controlled substance. (Doc. 71, Attach. 3 at 40.) At that time, Mr. Mellors was aware that the DEA was asking for these comments. (Id.) As part of an ongoing criminal investigation the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) conducted a September 24,2009 raid of a Bodybuilding.com2 warehouse that contained RAGE products. (Id. at 16.) Among the ingredients targeted was Phera-Plex.3 (Doc. 71, Attach. 6.) At that time, the FDA notified Bodybuilding.com that the ingredients were or should be classified as steroids. (Id.) Mr, Mellors knew of the raid when it occurred, and in 2011 learned that RAGE contained one or more of the ingredients targeted by the FDA. (Doc. 71, Attach. 3 at 16-17.) On January 4, 2010, the FDA banned Phera-Plex, (Id, at 31, 34, 35.) J&J did not sell RAGE after the ban. (Id.)

On March 23, 2009, J&J applied for insurance with Plaintiff. (Doc. 71,' Attach. 7.) Mr. Mellors signed the application stating that he was the president of J&J. (Id.) Mr. Mellors also stated that J&J had been in business for one year. (Id.) A conditional quote was issued, and Plaintiff received a final typed application on July 8, 2009. (Doc. 71, Attach. 8.) Plaintiff received a renewal application on May 11, 2010. (Doc. 71, Attach. 9.) Both of these applications were incomplete as Mr. Mellors had failed to answer several questions. (Doc. 81 at 9.) There is no evidence that the Plaintiff sought a complete application before issuing these insurance policies.

In August 2009, Mr. Herren suffered a stroke after taking RAGE; There is a dispute as to when the RAGE Mr. Herren took was compounded.- Plaintiff argues that the RAGE was blended in 2008, prior to J&J’s existence. (Doc. 71, Attach. 22, 23 (showing lot BI01-054 sold to ANC on 5/72008 and 10/31/2008).) Defendants maintain that these purchasing orders may have been doctored. (Doc. 71, Attach. 3 at 33.)

•In May 2011 Mr. Mellors sent Plaintiff another incomplete renewal application for insurance, which is the subject of the current dispute. Like the previous applications, this renewal application was incomplete. However, this time Plaintiff conditionally issued the policy pending a complete application. (Doc. 71, Attach. 11.) On June 13, 2011 Plaintiff threatened the cancelation of the policy if Plaintiff did not receive a complete application from J&J. (Doc, 71, Attach. .12.) A completed application was received on June, 13, 2011. (Doc. 71, Attach. 13.) The application included three questions that were answered in the negative by Mr. Mellors. The first was “[i]s (are) any person(s) or organization(s) proposed ' for this ■ insurance aware of any fact, incident, circumstance, situation, condition,' defect or suspected defect which may result in a Product Liability claim, such that would fall under the proposed insurance.” (Doc. 71, Attach. 14 at 12) The second asked if “[d]o any products or ingredients or components thereof, originate from outside the United States.” (Id. at 11.) The third inquired whether “any of the Applicant’s products or ingredients or components thereof, ever been the subject of any investigation, enforcement action, or notice [1372]*1372of violation of any kind by any governmental, quasi-governmental, administrative, regulatory or oversight body” (Id.) The application also stated that

[n]o fact, incident, circumstance, situation, condition, défect or suspected defect indicating the probability of a claim or action for which coverage may be afforded by the proposed insurance is now known by any person(s) or organization^) proposed for this Insurance other than that which is disclosed in this application. It is agreed by all concerned that if there is knowledge of any such fact, incident, circumstance, situation, condition, defect or suspected defect any claim subsequently emanating therefrom shall be excluded from coverage under the proposed insurance.

(Id. at 12.) After receiving the completed application, Plaintiff issued the policy providing coverage for any claim brought between May 15, 2011 and May 15, 2012, so long as the occurrence giving rise to the claim occurred on 'or after the retroactive date of May 12, 2009. (Id. at 14.)

Following the stroke, the Herren’s filed a number of complaints in an effort to recover damages, finally naming SWE and others in a Second Amended and Recast Complaint. (Doc. 67 ¶ 21.) Plaintiff agreed to provide Mr. Mellors with a defense to the underlying action subject to a reservation of rights. (Id. at ¶ 3.)

ANALYSIS

I. SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD

According to Fed. R. Civ. P. 56

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Bluebook (online)
141 F. Supp. 3d 1367, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132780, 2015 WL 5786745, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/evanston-insurance-v-mellors-gasd-2015.