Flener v. Pacific Indemnity Insurance (In re Miller)

267 B.R. 785, 2000 Bankr. LEXIS 1888
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Kentucky
DecidedNovember 17, 2000
DocketBankruptcy No. 96-41602(1)7; Adversary Nos. 97-4028, 98-4027
StatusPublished

This text of 267 B.R. 785 (Flener v. Pacific Indemnity Insurance (In re Miller)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Flener v. Pacific Indemnity Insurance (In re Miller), 267 B.R. 785, 2000 Bankr. LEXIS 1888 (Ky. 2000).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM-OPINION

JOAN LLOYD COOPER, Bankruptcy Judge.

This case consists of two separate lawsuits which involve the claim of Dan and Faith Miller (the “Millers”) for the total fire loss of their home covered under a homeowners’ policy issued by Pacific Indemnity Insurance Company (“Pacific”), one of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies (“Chubb”), Pacific’s defenses to the claim, and Pacific’s claim for nondis-chargeability of sums advanced under the homeowners’ policy.

Mark Flener, 'the duly appointed and acting Trustee for the Millers’ bankruptcy estate, filed the action against Pacific for [788]*788recovery of the policy proceeds, claiming that it wrongfully denied payment of the proof of loss submitted by the Millers. Pacific claims the Trustee does not have standing to raise these claims since Pacific rescinded the homeowner’s policy, leaving no property to vest in the Trustee, upon discovery that the application for insurance omitted material information, which if included would have resulted in a denial of the application for coverage by Pacific, and/or that the fire loss was the result of owner-arson.

This case has a rather circuitous procedural history which is not relevant to this Court’s opinion, other than to state that the first action was brought by Pacific to recover amounts advanced under the rescinded homeowners’ policy and for a declaration of such sums as a nondischargeable judgment on the basis of the Millers’ alleged fraud. Later, the Trustee sued Pacific and E.M. Ford & Company (“E.M.Ford”), the agent that took the Millers’ application for an automobile policy and the homeowners’ policy, Pacific proceeded as the Plaintiff.

The Court, having considered the pleadings, testimony of the witnesses and documents admitted into evidence relating to the Trustee’s claim for recovery under the homeowners’ insurance policy, Pacific’s defenses thereto and Pacific’s claim for non-dischargeability against the Millers, hereby makes the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law as required by Fed.R.Bankr.P. 52.

I. FINDINGS OF FACT

The Millers are married and have two children, Whitney Miller and Trace Miller. In November 1994, the Millers purchased a home at 17 Stone Creek Park, Owens-boro, Kentucky. The Millers closed the purchase of the home on November 29, 1994, paying approximately $350,000.

The evidence shows that shortly before closing on the home, Mr. Miller contacted E.M. Ford for the purpose of obtaining homeowners’ insurance and automobile insurance. While Mr. Miller knew Steve Ford, a principal of E.M. Ford, for many years and they attended the same church, the Millers had never done business with E.M. Ford prior to this inquiry. Miller spoke with E.M. Ford agent Ann Lovern (“Lovern”) about coverage for the new home and after several telephone conversations regarding the coverage needed, Lovern asked Miller to fax her a copy of the declarations page on his current automobile insurance policy with Meridian. Upon receipt, Lovern filled out the insurance application for both the homeowners’ and automobile insurance based on the telephone discussions with Dan Miller.

It is undisputed that the homeowners’ application filled out by Lovern and submitted to Pacific contained inaccuracies about the Millers’ claims history and an earlier cancellation or nonrenewal. However, neither Mr. or Mrs. Miller ever signed the homeowners’ application and neither E.M. Ford or Pacific ever provided the Millers with a copy of the homeowners’ application or requested them to ratify its contents in writing.

The parties do have a number of disputes, including whether Mr. Miller misled or lied to Lovern on the telephone, whether the inaccuracies were material to Pacific’s decision to bind and issue the policy (two different events, the importance of which will become apparent), whether E.M. Ford acted as agent for the Millers or for Pacific for purposes of the binder and issuance of the policy, whether Mr. Miller ratified the information contained in the application and, finally, whether Mr. Miller caused or had caused the fire which consumed his home in the early morning hours on November 9,1995.

[789]*789Pacific introduced troubling evidence that in the past the Millers had not properly disclosed their claims history to another local agency and had prior losses, which in and of themselves could lead a reasonable person to question that such a set of unfortunate events could occur to anyone, absent fraud. Cumulatively and by themselves, the Millers’ prior claims history seems incredible, yet each occurred and despite the circumstances of Mr. Miller accidentally setting fire to a prior home’s garage with a lawn mower, substantial vandalism to one home, which nearly destroyed the interior, several major thefts from automobile and automobile theft claims, Mr. and Mrs. Miller made appropriate police reports of the incidents, the incidents were investigated, no charges were ever filed against them relating to those events, and the various carriers paid their claims.

Further, Pacific introduced troubling evidence that Mr. Miller was an actor in a series of events that led to investors being bilked out of substantial sums of money, and that he was paid his promised commissions for his services when he had reason to know the innocent victims of the crime were not receiving contemporaneous distributions promised to them. Nevertheless, Mr. Miller was not charged with any crime while Frank Deutsche, the principal wrong-doer in the scheme, was charged, plead guilty to securities fraud, and has served or is still serving his sentence.

While these stated circumstances and events do not cover every cloud upon Mr. Miller, they are illustrative of the evidence introduced by Pacific to show that Mr. Miller lacks credibility and it is more probable than not that he would lie to E.M. Ford and Pacific about his prior claims history and later set fire to his home to make yet another incredible insurance claim and reap a windfall. The Court is cognizant of the evidence introduced at trial and was able to hear the respective witnesses and judge for itself, their credibility. In sum, the Court believes this case must be decided on the issues of owner-arson and agency. If the preponderance of the evidence shows that Mr. Miller caused or had caused the fire which destroyed his home at 17 Stone Creek Park, then under no circumstances should Pacific be required to pay the Millers for the loss, while conversely, if Mr. Miller had no part in the arson, then the Court must determine the agency question. If E.M. Ford was the agent for Mr. and Mrs. Miller at the time of the binder and at the time of the issuance of the policy, the Millers are bound by the inaccuracies in the application. If E.M. Ford was the agent for Pacific at the time of the binder and Mr. Miller did not lie or intentionally mislead Lovern, then Pacific is bound by its agent’s negligence in filling out and submitting the faulty application.

A. Owner-arson.

In this posture the Court first addresses the issue of owner-arson. In order to sustain its claim to rescission of the homeowners’ policy, Pacific was required to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the Millers or someone on their behalf intentionally set the fire that destroyed their home.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
267 B.R. 785, 2000 Bankr. LEXIS 1888, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/flener-v-pacific-indemnity-insurance-in-re-miller-kywb-2000.