Florida I. Schaal, widow and Beneficiary, and as Personal Representative of the Estate of Charles D. Schaal v. IAT Insurance Group, Inc., a foreign corporation; Transguard Insurance Company of America, Inc., a foreign insurance company; and Jennifer M. Sais, an individual

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Washington
DecidedFebruary 13, 2026
Docket2:25-cv-00221
StatusUnknown

This text of Florida I. Schaal, widow and Beneficiary, and as Personal Representative of the Estate of Charles D. Schaal v. IAT Insurance Group, Inc., a foreign corporation; Transguard Insurance Company of America, Inc., a foreign insurance company; and Jennifer M. Sais, an individual (Florida I. Schaal, widow and Beneficiary, and as Personal Representative of the Estate of Charles D. Schaal v. IAT Insurance Group, Inc., a foreign corporation; Transguard Insurance Company of America, Inc., a foreign insurance company; and Jennifer M. Sais, an individual) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Florida I. Schaal, widow and Beneficiary, and as Personal Representative of the Estate of Charles D. Schaal v. IAT Insurance Group, Inc., a foreign corporation; Transguard Insurance Company of America, Inc., a foreign insurance company; and Jennifer M. Sais, an individual, (E.D. Wash. 2026).

Opinion

1 2 3 FILED IN THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 4 Feb 13, 2026 5 SEAN F. MCAVOY, CLERK 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 FLORIDA I. SCHAAL, widow and No. 2:25-CV-00221-RLP Beneficiary, and as Personal 9 Representative of the Estate of Charles D. Schaal, ORDER ON MOTIONS TO 10 DISMISS, COMPEL, AMEND, Plaintiff, AND FOR EXCESS PAGES 11 v. IAT INSURANCE GROUP, INC., a 12 foreign corporation; TRANSGUARD INSURANCE COMPANY OF 13 AMERICA, INC., a foreign insurance company; and JENNIFER M. SAIS, an 14 individual,

15 Defendants. 16

17 Before the Court are Defendants’ Partial Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 21), 18 Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel (ECF No. 23), Plaintiff’s Motion to Amend 19 Complaint (ECF No. 24), and Plaintiff’s Motion for Leave to File Excess Pages for 20 all Motions (ECF No. 31). Plaintiff is represented by Michael J. Delay. Defendants are represented by Katrina P. Mendoza and Keith M. Liguori. The motions were 1 considered without oral argument. For the reasons set forth below the Court grants 2 Defendants’ Partial Motion to Dismiss, and denies Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel, 3 Motion to Amend Complaint, and Motion for Leave to File Excess Pages.

4 FACTS/BACKGROUND 5 On May 29, 2025, Plaintiff Florida Schaal, on her own behalf and as 6 personal representative for the estate of late husband, Charles Schaal, filed this suit

7 in Spokane County Superior Court. ECF No. 1-2. Defendants are IAT Insurance 8 Group, Inc. (IAT), a North Carolina corporation, Transguard Insurance Company 9 of America, Inc. (TransGuard), an Illinois corporation, and IAT insurance adjuster 10 Jennifer Sais, an Illinois resident. ECF Nos. 1 at 3-4; 1-2 at 8-9.

11 Ms. Schaal alleges that TransGuard issued her deceased husband, a 12 commercial trucker, an accidental death insurance policy. ECF No. 1-2 at 13-14. 13 On June 29, 2024, Mr. Schaal was found lying dead outside his truck under

14 unknown circumstances. Id. at 18-20. Ms. Schaal subsequently made an insurance 15 claim on Mr. Schaal’s policy. Id. at 25. 16 TransGuard assigned IAT to investigate Ms. Schaal’s claim. An employee 17 adjuster named Miriam Carrion was assigned to the case. After investigation, IAT

18 determined Ms. Schaal’s claim was excluded from coverage as Mr. Schaal had a 19 blood alcohol level in excess of the legal driving limit at the time of his death. Id. 20 at 27-28. As a consequence, TransGuard denied Ms. Schaal’s claim. Id. at 28. 1 Ms. Schaal disputed TransGuard’s decision. On February 19, 2025, Ms. 2 Schaal mailed a Washington Insurance Fair Conduct Act (IFCA) pre-suit notice to 3 IAT, TransGuard, and the Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner. Id.

4 at 32. 5 After receiving the IFCA notice letter, IAT assigned a new employee— 6 Defendant Jennifer Sais—to handle Ms. Schaal’s claim. Id. at 32-33. In February,

7 2025, Ms. Sais wrote Ms. Schaal to inform her that her claim fell under the non- 8 occupational accident benefits provision of Mr. Schaal’s policy, because he was 9 off-duty at the time of his death. Id. at 33-34. Ms. Sais subsequently sent Ms. 10 Schaal a letter offering her a $25,000 non-occupational death benefit. Ms. Schaal

11 did not agree to this offer. 12 Ms. Schaal asserts the following claims against TransGuard: 13 • Breach of Contract for failure to pay benefits due, violation of

14 insurance statutes and regulations, failure to investigate and adjust her claim in 15 good faith, placing its interests before hers, and denying her claim based on the 16 alcohol exclusion without evidence. Id. at 39-41. 17 • Negligence/Bad Faith for breaching its duty to act in good faith, not

18 giving equal consideration to her interests, negligent claims handling by allowing 19 IAT, an unauthorized insurer, and nonresident adjusters to handle her claim, and 20 unreasonably denying coverage. Id. at 41-43. 1 • Violation of Washington’s Consumer Protection Act (CPA) for 2 various violations of the Washington Administrative Code, including 3 misrepresentation of facts, failing to act reasonably in response to communication

4 about the claim, failing to adopt reasonable standards for investigating claims or 5 processing and paying claims, refusing to pay claims, failing to provide a 6 reasonable explanation for the basis of denial of a claim, and failure to timely

7 complete investigation of her claim. Id. at 43-45 8 • Violation of the Insurance Fair Conduct Act (IFCA) for the above 9 violations of the Washington Administrative Code, failure to pay benefits due, and 10 unreasonable denial of her claim. Id. at 45-46.

11 • Fraud/Unconscionability for its intentional misrepresentations about 12 the alcohol exclusion and switch to the non-occupational benefits provision. Id. at 13 46-48.

14 • Estoppel from denying coverage/waiver of rights under the policy due 15 to violations of the insurance code, Title 48 RCW, specifically using an 16 unauthorized insurer, IAT, and nonresident unlicensed adjusters to transact 17 insurance in Washington. Id. at 48.

18 Ms. Schaal asserts the following claims against IAT: 19 • Breach of Contract for violation of Washington insurance statutes and 20 regulations, breach of duty to act reasonably in the investigation and adjustment of

Ms. Schaal’s claim, breach of duty to act in good faith and assist her claim, denial 1 of the policy under the alcohol exclusion, and failure to pay benefits due. Id. at 48- 2 50. 3 • Negligence/Bad Faith for dishonest communications with Ms. Schaal,

4 failing to give equal consideration to her interests, transacting the business of 5 insurance in Washington without a Certificate of Authority and using nonresident 6 adjusters not licensed in Washington, negligent claims handling and

7 misrepresentations, and wrongly denying her claim. Id. at 50-51. 8 • Violation of the CPA for various violations of the Washington 9 Administrative Code, including misrepresentation of facts, failing to act reasonably 10 in response to communication about the claim, failing to adopt reasonable

11 standards for investigating claims or processing and paying claims, refusing to pay 12 claims, failing to provide a reasonable explanation for the basis of denial of a 13 claim, and failure to timely complete investigation of her claim.

14 • Violation of the IFCA for the above violations of the Washington 15 Administrative Code, failure to pay benefits due, and unreasonable denial of her 16 claim. Id. at 54-55. 17 • Fraud/Unconscionability for its misrepresentations about the alcohol

18 exclusion and switch to the non-occupational benefits provision. Id. at 55-56. 19 • Estoppel from denying coverage/waiver of rights under the policy due 20 to violations of the insurance code, Title 48 RCW, specifically using an 1 unauthorized insurer, IAT, and nonresident unlicensed adjusters to transact 2 insurance in Washington. Id. at 56. 3 Ms. Schaal asserts the following claims against Ms. Sais:

4 • Negligence/Bad Faith for violation of her duty to act in good faith, 5 with honesty, timely respond to Ms. Schaal, and to provide requested documents, 6 failure to exercise reasonable care when handling her claim, failure to exercise

7 reasonable care when investigating and adjusting a claim in Washington without a 8 license under an unauthorized insurer. Id. at 56-57. 9 • Violation of the CPA for misrepresentations made during the 10 adjusting of the claim. Id. at 57-58.

11 • Fraud/Unconscionability for unspecified intentional misconduct. Id. at 12 58. 13 Ms. Schaal asserts Defendants’ conduct resulted in unspecified physical and

14 emotional injuries, and economic and non-economic damages. Id. at 41-58. 15 ANALYSIS 16 1.

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Florida I. Schaal, widow and Beneficiary, and as Personal Representative of the Estate of Charles D. Schaal v. IAT Insurance Group, Inc., a foreign corporation; Transguard Insurance Company of America, Inc., a foreign insurance company; and Jennifer M. Sais, an individual, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/florida-i-schaal-widow-and-beneficiary-and-as-personal-representative-of-waed-2026.