Fleisher v. Phoenix Life Insurance

997 F. Supp. 2d 230, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17854, 2014 WL 550391
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedFebruary 7, 2014
DocketNo. 11 Civ. 8405(CM)
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 997 F. Supp. 2d 230 (Fleisher v. Phoenix Life 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
Fleisher v. Phoenix Life Insurance, 997 F. Supp. 2d 230, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17854, 2014 WL 550391 (S.D.N.Y. 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS AND MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT

McMAHON, District Judge.

Plaintiffs Jonathan Berck (“Berck”), as Trustee of the John L. Loeb, Jr. Insurance Trust, and Martin Fleisher (“Fleisher,” and, together with Berck, “Plaintiffs”), as Trustee of the Michael Moss Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust II, initiated this action against Defendant Phoenix Life Insurance Company (“Phoenix”). The only remaining claim (Count One) alleges that Phoenix breached the express terms of certain insurance policies owned by the Trusts.

Phoenix moves to dismiss Berck’s claim for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and for partial summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56. For the reasons discussed below, both motions are denied.

BACKGROUND

A. The PAUL Policies

Plaintiff Berck is the trustee of the John L. Loeb, Jr. Insurance Trust (the “Loeb [232]*232Trust”). Plaintiff Fleisher is the trustee of the Michael Moss Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust II (the “Moss Trust,” and, together with the Loeb Trust, the “Trusts”). Plaintiffs purchased “premium-adjustable, universal life” (“PAUL”) insurance policies from Phoenix.

The principal benefit of PAUL policies is their flexibility — “they permit policyholders to pay the minimum amount of premiums necessary to keep the policies in-force.” Compl. at ¶ 2. In contrast with standard whole life insurance policies, the PAUL policies do not require a policyholder to pay a fixed monthly premium. Rather, a policyholder need only pay a premium that is sufficient to cover certain expenses that Phoenix deducts from his account on a monthly basis. One of these monthly charges is the “cost of insurance” (“COI”). The COI charge represents Phoenix’s risk — the cost of paying the death benefit (the policy’s “face value”) to the policy’s beneficiary upon the death of the insured. The payment of COI charges to cover Phoenix’s risk is the policy’s insurance component. See id.

The PAUL policies also have a savings component. Any premiums that a policyholder chooses to pay in excess of the monthly insurance expenses are added to a policy’s “accumulated policy value.” The accumulated policy value functions like a savings account; it accrues interest for the policyholder at a rate that Phoenix may adjust periodically but cannot set below a guaranteed minimum of 4%. See id.; id. Ex. A at 9; id. Ex. B at 6. This interest is added to the accumulated policy value.

In any given month, a PAUL policyholder has the option of allowing her monthly insurance expenses to be paid out of the accumulated policy value (her “savings account”) rather than paying in more premiums. So long as the accumulated policy value stays high enough to cover the monthly expenses, the policy will not lapse. This feature gives the policyholder the flexibility to invest her capital in other, more lucrative investments. Because of these characteristics, Phoenix allegedly marketed PAUL policies as “presenting] the opportunity to pay lower premiums, as well as adjust the amount and timing of premium payments.” Compl. at ¶ 2.

For Plaintiff Berck’s policy (“the Loeb policy”), the monthly COI charge is calculated by multiplying his COI rate by the difference between his face value ($10 million) and his accumulated policy value. See id. Ex. A at 10. This COI charge is deducted from the Loeb policy’s accumulated policy value.

The PAUL policies permit Phoenix to adjust the COI rates periodically. According to Plaintiffs, however, these contracts only allow Phoenix to consider certain enumerated factors when making such adjustments. Under the terms of the Loeb policy, these factors include age, sex, risk class, policy duration, and Phoenix’s “expectations of future investment earnings, mortality, persistency and expense/administrative costs.” Id. at 11. The Loeb policy does not allow Phoenix to consider a policyholder’s accumulated policy value in setting his COI rate. It also requires Phoenix to make any adjustments to COI rates prospectively and “on a uniform basis for all insureds in the same class.” Id. The language in Plaintiff Fleisher’s policy (“the Moss policy”) is very similar to the language in the Loeb policy. See id. Ex. B at 12.

B. The 2010 and 2011 Cost of Insurance Rate Increases

According to Plaintiffs, on two separate occasions in 2010 and 2011, Phoenix breached their PAUL insurance contracts by raising the COI rates applicable to hundreds of policies. Plaintiffs originally brought these claims on behalf of two pu[233]*233tative classes: the policyholders subjected to the 2010 COI rate increase (“the 2010 Class”) and the policyholders subjected to the 2011 COI rate increase (“the 2011 Class”). See Compl. at ¶¶ 36-37. The former was represented by Berck (though that class has since been decertified), and the latter is represented by Fleisher.

The allegedly improper basis for the 2010 COI rate increase was the “funding ratio” — the ratio of each policy’s accumulated policy value to its face value. It is undisputed that in March 2010, Berck — as trustee of the Loeb Trust — received a letter from Phoenix announcing the 2010 COI rate increase. It stated:

We are sending you this letter to inform you that on April 1, 2010, we are increasing cost of insurance rates on certain Phoenix Accumulator Universal Life policies. Your policy referenced above will be subject to this rate increase on your next policy anniversary beginning 11/1/2010 unless your accumulated policy value is maintained at a sufficient level.
The amount of the increase will vary based on the accumulated amount of your policy value. In general, maintaining higher levels of policy value in relation to the face amount will reduce or even eliminate the increase ...
If you have any questions or would like information about how you may reduce or eliminate the rate increase, please contact us at (800)541-0171.

Berck Decl. dated Jan. 11, 2013 (“Berck Deck”) Ex. B (emphasis added); Def. 56.1 Statement dated Sept. 9, 2013 (“Def. 56.1 Statement”) at ¶¶ 7-10. The Complaint alleges that Phoenix only sent such letters to a subset of PAUL policyholders, not to all insureds in this class; it estimates that 700 of the thousands of PAUL policies were affected. See Compl. at ¶¶ 26, 62.

Fleisher (as trustee of the Moss Trust) allegedly received a similar letter in October 2011 stating that Phoenix was raising the COI rates on his policy. See id. at ¶ 32.

According to Berck, the 2010 COI rate increase breached his insurance contract in two ways. First, Phoenix adjusted the COI rate on an impermissible basis, since neither the policy’s funding ratio nor its accumulated policy value (which is used in calculating the funding ratio) is enumerated in the contract as a permissible basis for adjusting the COI rate. See id. at ¶¶ 27, 29.

Second, the 2010 COI rate increase did not apply uniformly to a class of insureds. Berck alleges that it only affected a subset — roughly 700 — of the thousands of similar PAUL policies in the same class.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
997 F. Supp. 2d 230, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17854, 2014 WL 550391, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fleisher-v-phoenix-life-insurance-nysd-2014.