Gary v. USAA Life Insurance Co.

229 F. Supp. 3d 365, 2017 WL 167834, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5889
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedJanuary 17, 2017
DocketCase No.: PWG-15-1998
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 229 F. Supp. 3d 365 (Gary v. USAA Life Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gary v. USAA Life Insurance Co., 229 F. Supp. 3d 365, 2017 WL 167834, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5889 (D. Md. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Paul W. Grimm, United States District Judge

When the Plaintiff, Colonel Robert Gary, made a claim for benefits under a life insurance policy (the “Policy”) that Defendant USAA Life Insurance Co. (“USAA Life”) had issued to his wife Angela Maddox-Gary less than two years earlier, USAA Life denied his claim because Ms. Maddox-Gary had made a misrepresentation in the medical questionnaire interview (“Medical Questionnaire”) that was part of the application process for the Policy. Gary filed suit against USAA Life to recover benefits under the Policy. USAA Life moved for summary judgment, insisting that Ms. Maddox-Gary’s misrepresentation was material and therefore provided a basis for USAA Life to rescind the Policy. Def.’s Mot., ECF No. 29; Def.’s Mem. 5, ECF No. 29-1. Gary filed a cross-motion for summary judgment, ECF No. 32, admitting that Ms. Maddox-Gary made the misrepresentation but arguing that, “[u]n-der the applicable statutes, USAA Life is precluded from declaring Ms. Maddox-Gary’s policy void because of failure to disclose an Echocardiogram.” Pl.’s Opp’n & Mem. 4, ECF No. 32-2.1 He also contends that the Medical Questionnaire is not part of the application but rather inadmissible hearsay that could not alter the written application, id. at 5, 8, and that the misrepresentation was not material, id. at 14. Additionally, Gary argues that the Court should exclude testimony from one of USAA Life’s principal underwriters, Tammy Koenig. Id. at 16. Gary has not established grounds for excluding the evidence, and the Medical Questionnaire is a part of the application. Moreover, Ms. Maddox-Gary’s misrepresentation, which was material, indeed provides a basis for rescission. Accordingly, I will grant USAA Life’s motion and deny Gary’s.

Standard of Review

Summary judgment is proper when the moving party demonstrates, through “par[369]*369ticular parts of materials in the record, including depositions, documents, electronically stored information, affidavits or declarations, stipulations ..., admissions, interrogatory answers, or other materials,” that “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a), (c)(1)(A); see Baldwin v. City of Greensboro, 714 F.3d 828, 833 (4th Cir. 2013). If the party seeking summary judgment demonstrates that there is no evidence to support the nonmoving party’s case, the burden shifts to the nonmoving party to identify evidence that shows that a genuine dispute exists as to material facts. See Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 585-87 & n.10, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). The existence of only a “scintilla of evidence” is not enough to defeat a motion for summary judgment. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 251-52, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Instead, the evidentiary materials submitted must show facts from which the finder of fact reasonably could find for the party opposing summary judgment. Id.

Preliminary Matters

On a motion for summary judgment, “[a] party may object that the material cited to support or dispute a fact cannot be presented in a form that would be admissible in evidence.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(2). To establish that the decedent made a misrepresentation and that the misrepresentation was material, USAA Life relies in part on the Medical Questionnaire, as well as Koe-nig’s affidavit and deposition testimony. Gary challenges the insurer’s ability to present the facts it introduces through these documents as admissible evidence.

Admissibility of Medical Questionnaire

Gary notes that Ms. Maddox-Gary completed the Medical Questionnaire, Jt. Rec. 28-31, in a telephone interview that “an unidentified third party” conducted, for which her answers were not recorded verbatim, and which she did not see in written form before the Policy issued. Ph’s Opp’n & Mem. 6-8. Gary argues that, although it is “authentic as part of USAA Life’s business records ..., there is incurable hearsay within the document that render[s] the entire document inadmissible.” Id. at 5. He insists that “the truthfulness of the information within the document cannot be presumed absent authentication by the interviewer or the opportunity by Ms. Maddox-Gary to review and adopt the written answers.” Id.; see Pl.’s Reply 6 (arguing that under Fed. R. Evid. 803(6), the Medical Questionnaire “qualifies as inadmissible hearsay as it lacks trustworthiness”).

Yet, as USAA Life correctly asserts, Ms. Maddox-Gary’s statements “are not hearsay because USAA does not offer her statements to establish the truth of her assertion that she did not have diagnostic procedures, but rather ... to establish that the statement was made.” Cover Page to Jt. Ex. 1, ECF No. 36, at 4. In essence, USAA contends that the document is offered not to prove the truth of the assertions it contains, but rather to show what USAA did in response to having received and relied on those statements (i.e., it issued the policy at the lower premium rate than it would have required had it known the actual facts). A hearsay statement is one made outside of the current court proceeding and that “a party offers in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted in the statement.” Fed. R. Evid. 801(c)(2). This case focuses on Ms. Maddox-Gary’s misrepresentation in the Medical Questionnaire; if what she said were true, or if USAA Life believed that it was true, then USAA Life would not have rescinded the Policy based on her statement, and this case would not be before me. And, [370]*370because the statement was not true, but USAA mistakenly thought that it was when it issued the policy, it is, so to speak, offered for its non-truth—the antithesis of hearsay. Thus, the misrepresentation is not offered for its truth and simply cannot be hearsay, and is not inadmissible on that ground. See id.

The only other contents of the Medical Questionnaire on which USAA Life relies, see Def.’s Mem. 2, are the text of Question 8.a, as it appeared in the Medical Questionnaire and in the transcript of Ms. Maddox-Gary’s interview, which also is not offered for its truth, and Ms. Maddox-Gary’s response that she had her finger x-rayed, which is not disputed. Therefore, insofar as USAA Life relies on the contents of the Medical Questionnaire, Gary’s objection that it is inadmissible hearsay is overruled for purposes of this summary judgment analysis. See Fed. R. Evid. 801(c)(2).

Admissibility of Koenig’s Statements

Gary argues that “[t]he nature of Ms. Koenig’s testimony as well as the skill required to conduct her investigation clearly demonstrate that she should have been disclosed as an expert under Red. R. Civ. P.

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Bluebook (online)
229 F. Supp. 3d 365, 2017 WL 167834, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5889, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gary-v-usaa-life-insurance-co-mdd-2017.