Feldman Law Group P.C. v. Liberty Mutual Insurance

819 F. Supp. 2d 247, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88561, 2011 WL 2610642
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedAugust 10, 2011
Docket11 Civ. 425(SAS)
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 819 F. Supp. 2d 247 (Feldman Law Group P.C. v. Liberty Mutual Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Feldman Law Group P.C. v. Liberty Mutual Insurance, 819 F. Supp. 2d 247, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88561, 2011 WL 2610642 (S.D.N.Y. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

SHIRA A. SCHEINDLIN, District Judge:

I. INTRODUCTION

Feldman Law Group (“FLG”) brings suit against Liberty Mutual Insurance Company (“Liberty”) as a result of Liberty’s refusal to provide a defense to The Hyman Companies (“Hyman”) in an earlier action before this Court. 1 Liberty now moves to dismiss for failure to state a claim. For the reasons discussed below, Liberty’s motion is granted.

II. BACKGROUND

On January 24, 2007, Van Cleef and Arpéis Logistics SA (“Van Cleef’) brought suit for copyright and trade dress infringement 2 against Hyman, an Allentown, Pennsylvania, corporation with jewelry stores nationwide, 3 including Landau Jewelry in New York. 4 Van Cleef alleged that *254 Hyman produced jewelry featuring a series of elements representing the Alhambra Trade Dress, which is copyrighted Van Cleef property. 5 Alleging that Hyman’s jewelry was “confusingly similar” to its own, Van Cleef complained that Hyman was responsible for trade dress infringement as a violation of Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, 6 common law trade dress infringement and unfair competition, and copyright infringement. 7 While Van Cleef asked the court for injunctive relief to halt Hyman from continuing to advertise the offending jewelry and requested that all advertising material, such as catalogs and circulars, be destroyed, 8 it was the underlying production, and subsequent sale and distribution, of the jewelry that subjected Hyman to Van Cleef s action. 9

Hyman hired FLG as defense counsel and apprised Liberty, its insurance provider, of the pending litigation. 10 Hyman requested that Liberty provide a defense pursuant to the insurance policy Hyman had purchased. 11 The policy states that the insurance company has “the right and duty to defend” in any suit seeking damages for “personal and advertising injury.” 12 FLG avers that Liberty was duty-bound to defend Hyman “against claims of Trade Dress and Copyright Infringement resulting from insured’s alleged advertisement of infringing goods and products.” 13 The policy, which is attached to and incorporated by reference into the Complaint, only covers injury arising out of “the use of another’s advertising idea” or “infringing upon another’s copyright, trade dress or slogan in your advertisement.” 14 The policy contains fifteen exclusions of acts which are not covered. Exclusion “i” pertains to “ ‘[personal and advertising injury’ arising out of infringement of copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property rights or out of securities fraud.” 15 The policy makes clear that the exclusion does not apply to trade dress or copyright infringement in an advertisement, but otherwise exempts intellectual property-related offenses from coverage. 16

In a letter dated September 27, 2010, a Liberty representative outlined Liberty’s refusal to provide a defense. 17 Liberty explained that while Van Cleef requested that Hyman be enjoined from continuing to advertise the offending jewelry, the trade dress and copyright infringement claims did not stem from Hyman’s advertising. 18 Liberty further explained that *255 although Van Cleef did allege that Hyman distributed its jewelry by “other means,” such an allegation was “not sufficiently specific as to constitute an allegation of advertising.” 19 Liberty’s letter also contended that because a Pennsylvania sales office sold the insurance policy to Hyman in Pennsylvania, that state’s law applied. 20 As a result, Liberty maintained that any allegations extrinsic to the Complaint could not be considered in determining whether the policy covers a claim. 21

Van Cleefs action against Hyman was settled at Hyman’s expense, prompting it to file for bankruptcy. 22 As the assignee of Hyman’s rights and interests in the insurance policy at issue, FLG now brings suit against Liberty. 23 FLG claims breach of contract, unfair insurance practices, and common law deceit and fraud. 24 Regarding the claim of unfair insurance practices, FLG asserts that Liberty “intentionally misrepresented its policy’s true nature.” 25 As for the deceit and fraud charges, FLG claims that “Liberty deceived the insured when it advertised, promoted, and sold its insurance policy to Hyman.” 26 Liberty now moves to dismiss all three counts for failure to state a claim.

III. CHOICE-OF-LAW ANALYSIS

A. New York Choice-of-Law

In diversity actions, federal courts follow the choice-of-law rules of the forum state to determine the controlling substantive law. 27 Under New York choice-of-law rules, courts first determine whether there is a substantive conflict between the laws of the relevant choices. 28 “In the absence of substantive difference ... a New York court will dispense with choice of law analysis; and if New York law is among the relevant choices, New York courts are free to apply it.” 29 If there is a conflict, in a contract case, “[i]t is well settled that New York has long recognized ‘the use of a center of gravity or grouping of contacts analytical approach to choice of law questions.’ ” 30 Among the factors to consider are “the place of contracting, the places of negotiation and performance, the location of the subject matter, and the domicile or place of business of the contracting parties.” 31 In the in *256

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819 F. Supp. 2d 247, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88561, 2011 WL 2610642, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/feldman-law-group-pc-v-liberty-mutual-insurance-nysd-2011.