Halberstam v. Allianz Life Ins. Co. of N. Am.

349 F. Supp. 3d 164
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedOctober 2, 2018
Docket1:16-CV-6854 (ARR) (ST)
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 349 F. Supp. 3d 164 (Halberstam v. Allianz Life Ins. Co. of N. Am.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Halberstam v. Allianz Life Ins. Co. of N. Am., 349 F. Supp. 3d 164 (E.D.N.Y. 2018).

Opinion

ROSS, United States District Judge:

In this case, the plaintiff is suing for a declaratory judgment that a certain life-insurance policy, issued by the defendant and owned by a trust of which the plaintiff is both trustee and beneficiary, remains in effect. Despite the variety of issues that the parties have briefed, the material facts are undisputed. The defendant insisted upon performance by the plaintiff that went beyond the terms of the policy. Accordingly, the defendant cannot rely on the plaintiff's subsequent failure to tender premiums to justify its termination of their contract. The plaintiff is entitled to summary judgment.

BACKGROUND

The policy around which this case revolves was issued in April 2008 by the defendant, on the life of one Dora Zupnick. Def.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 1, ECF No. 48-2; Pl.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 1, ECF No. 52-2.1 The policy was issued to Abraham Zupnick, her son, as trustee of the Zupnick Family Trust 2008 B, the owner and beneficiary of the policy. Def.'s 56.1 Statement ¶¶ 2-3; Pl.'s 56.1 Statement ¶¶ 2, 5. At some point, the plaintiff began making premium payments on the policy. Pl.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 11.2 In 2010, the plaintiff and another man replaced Abraham Zupnick as trustee, and in 2011 the plaintiff became the sole trustee of the trust. Def.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 3. The plaintiff also became the primary beneficiary of the trust. Pl.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 10. The plaintiff is not related to the Zupnicks (Def.'s 56.1 Statement *167¶ 5); rather, for him, the life-insurance policy is an investment (id. ¶ 16; Pl.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 9). The plaintiff remains the sole trustee of the trust today. See Def.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 4.

The policy does not simply require a fixed premium payment each month; instead, it "provides a policy owner flexibility to determine certain aspects of coverage, including the timing and amount of premiums it will submit to Allianz within limits set by the terms of the Policy." Id. ¶ 6; see also Pl.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 12. Whether the policyholder has paid sufficient premium to keep the policy in force is determined by three different tests. Def.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 8; Pl.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 14. Under the policy, the defendant evaluates each of the three tests every month; if all three tests fail at once, the policy enters a grace period. Def.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 8; Pl.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 14. The grace period lasts sixty-one days, during which the policyholder may make "[a] premium payment sufficient to keep [the] policy in force for three months"; if the policyholder fails to do so "prior to the last day of the Grace Period," the policy lapses. Policy 4191, ECF No. 48-4; accord Def.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 9.

Once the policy lapses, it may be reinstated upon notice made by the policyholder within three years, provided that the insured is still "insurable pursuant to [Allianz's] underwriting standards." Def.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 30. Although it was not formally part of the contract, at all relevant times the defendant had a practice of accepting premium payments from at least some policyholders within thirty days of when their policy would have lapsed without requiring a new underwriting of the insured. Def.'s Add'l 56.1 Statement ¶ 62, ECF No. 53-1. In February 2010, however, the defendant specifically instructed its underwriting staff not to "auto reinstate" certain policies, including the policy at issue here. Pl.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 33.

The three tests under the policy all relate to how much premium has been paid: Under one test, the policy would remain in force as long as the policyholder made premium payments equal to at least $34,726.67 per month. See Policy 4165, 4191. That test, however, applied only for the first five years of the policy-that is, from April 2008 until April 2013. See id. Under a second test, the policy remains in force as long as the policyholder makes sufficient premium payments to maintain a positive balance after Allianz takes its monthly costs and fees. See Policy 4165-66, 4187-94. And under the third test, the policy remains in force as long as the policyholder makes sufficient premium payments to maintain a positive balance in a "side account" after Allianz recalculates the "Test Value"-a complex process that includes the subtraction of a "Monthly Test Premium," whose value changes every year according to a schedule set forth in the contract. See Policy 4168-69, 4185-86; Pl.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 16. The policy at issue here failed all three tests on eight separate occasions between 2008 and 2012. Def.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 22.

On July 7, 2012, the policy failed all three tests and entered the grace period. Pl.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 17. On August 7, 2012, the defendant sent the plaintiff a grace notice, informing him that the policy would lapse unless a premium payment of $116,511.94 was paid by September 7, 2012. Def.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 25; Pl.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 18. Neither party has conclusively explained how this dollar amount was calculated, but it represented more than enough premium for the policy to avoid failing at least one test until November 7 at the earliest. See Pl.'s 56.1 Statement *168¶ 23.3

On August 20, 2012, the plaintiff called the defendant to ask why he had "to pay now so much." Call Trs. 4079, ECF No. 48-13. After some confusion, the defendant's representative repeatedly told the plaintiff-and the plaintiff's wife, Zissy Halberstam, who had joined the call-that the $116,511.94 represented sufficient premium to carry the policy until October 7. Id. at 4083-87.

On September 5, 2012, the plaintiff called the defendant to request a one-week extension of the payment deadline. Def.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 28; Pl.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 29. The defendant's representative told him that she "can't give [him] an extension but if the policy lapses, as long as [he] sen[t] the premium in within 30 days of the lapse date [the defendant would] auto-reinstate it, so [he] just need[ed] to get that money in as soon as possible." Call Trs. 4108. But then she corrected herself: "Or actually, for reinstatement we have to contact somebody else. I stand corrected on that one." Id. She then told him that "[a]s long as it's postmarked by [September 7] ... it will be fine." Id. at 4109. Finally, after apparently discussing the issue with her manager (see id. at 4109-10), she told the plaintiff that, "upon further investigation, ... [t]he premium actually needs to be in [the defendant's] office by the 7th." Id. at 4110.

On September 9, 2012, the defendant sent the plaintiff a notice stating that the policy had lapsed. Def.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 29; Pl.'s 56.1 Statement ¶ 32.

On October 25, 2012, the Halberstams called the defendant to find out "what premiums [the plaintiff] need[ed] to pay up in order to keep [the] policy in force." Halberstam Aff., Ex. F, at 1, ECF No. 52-5. The defendant's representative informed them that because the policy had lapsed, the defendant would need to prepare a reinstatement application for the plaintiff to fill out. Id. And-evidently incorrectly (see BenHaim Aff., Ex. A, at 49, ECF No. 52-3)-she told them that the amount of premium that the trust owed wouldn't be known until after the defendant had received and processed the completed reinstatement application (Halberstam Aff., Ex. F, at 4).

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Bluebook (online)
349 F. Supp. 3d 164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/halberstam-v-allianz-life-ins-co-of-n-am-nyed-2018.