Hartnett v. Jackson National Life Insurance Company

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedApril 16, 2025
Docket1:23-cv-01601
StatusUnknown

This text of Hartnett v. Jackson National Life Insurance Company (Hartnett v. Jackson National Life Insurance Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hartnett v. Jackson National Life Insurance Company, (N.D. Ill. 2025).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION

PATRICK M. HARTNETT & DANIEL J. HARTNETT, as Successor Trustees of the Lorrayne B. Hartnett Trust dated June 27, 1984,

Plaintiffs, No. 23 CV 1601

v. Judge Manish S. Shah

JACKSON NATIONAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY,

Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Ninety-four-year-old Lorrayne Hartnett fell and broke her hip in May 2021. She was hospitalized and had surgery. She needed skilled nursing services for her recovery. Because of her age, other health conditions, and the COVID-19 pandemic, Hartnett’s doctor did not want her to be discharged to a nursing home. Instead, he wrote a prescription for Hartnett to receive home health care. Hartnett and her late husband had taken out a long-term care insurance policy in 1998. The policy provided nursing facility benefits. It also provided an “Alternative Plan of Care” benefit which provided coverage to “end confinement in a nursing care facility and continue recovery at home.” Hartnett sought an alternative plan of care for home health care to recover entirely at home instead of first entering a nursing facility. Defendant Jackson National Life Insurance Company denied her claim. Hartnett sued Jackson National.1 Both sides move for summary judgment. For the reasons discussed below, plaintiffs’ motion is denied, and Jackson National’s is granted. I. Legal Standard

A motion for summary judgment must be granted when “the movant shows 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). A genuine dispute of material fact exists if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict in favor of the non-moving party. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986). The court views “the facts and draw[s] reasonable inferences in the light most favorable

to the non-moving party.” Sullivan v. Flora, Inc., 63 F.4th 1130, 1141 (7th Cir. 2023). “When both parties move for summary judgment, we take the motions one at a time, viewing the facts and drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of the party against whom the motion under consideration was made.” Ellison v. United States Postal Serv., 84 F.4th 750, 755 (7th Cir. 2023). Summary judgment is appropriate only where the “admissible evidence considered as a whole”—no matter which motion the evidence is attached to—shows there is no genuine dispute of material fact. Davis v.

Time Warner Cable of Se. Wis., L.P., 651 F.3d 664, 671 (7th Cir. 2011); Torry v. City of Chi., 932 F.3d 579, 584 (7th Cir. 2019) (citing Las Vegas Sands, LLC v. Nehme, 632 F.3d 526, 532 (9th Cir. 2011) (“Where the parties file cross-motions for summary

1 When Hartnett passed away in October 2023, her assets were held in trust. Two of her children, as trustees of Hartnett’s trust, were substituted as plaintiffs pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(a)(1). [21]; [22]. judgment, the court must consider each party’s evidence, regardless under which motion the evidence is offered.”)). II. Facts

Lorrayne Hartnett fell and broke her hip in May 2021. [36] ¶ 13; [39] ¶ 35.2 She was hospitalized and underwent surgery. [36] ¶ 13. Hartnett also suffered from congestive heart failure, pulmonary fibrosis with chronic hypoxemic respiratory failure, hypertension, severe spinal stenosis, hearing loss, and sustained weakness and loss of range of motion in her left shoulder from a major rotator cuff tear. [36] ¶ 14. Hartnett’s primary care physician, Dr. Philip H. Sheridan, felt that because of

Hartnett’s medical problems and her advanced age—she was ninety-four at the time of her fall—and the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic was ongoing, discharging Hartnett to a nursing facility would put her “in harm’s way.” [36] ¶ 16. Sheridan prescribed Hartnett home health care, because “it was my decision that the only

2 Bracketed numbers refer to entries on the district court docket and page numbers refer to the CM/ECF header placed at the top of filings. When citing depositions, I also use the deposition transcript’s original page numbers. The facts are largely taken from the parties’ responses to their adversary’s Local Rule 56.1 statement of facts, [36] and [39], where both the asserted fact and the opposing party’s response are set forth in one document. Some facts are taken from Jackson National’s statement of additional facts, which the plaintiffs did not respond to. [36] at 17–20. I refer to the plaintiffs’ statement of facts in [36] by the paragraph number alone; I refer to the defendant’s additional statement of facts by both page number and paragraph. Asserted facts need to be supported by reference to specific pages in the evidentiary record. N.D. Ill. Local R. 56.1(d)(1)–(2). Any asserted fact that is not controverted by reference to specific, admissible evidence is deemed admitted. N.D. Ill. Local R. 56.1(e)(3); see Cracco v. Vitran Exp., Inc., 559 F.3d 625, 632 (7th Cir. 2009). I disregard legal arguments in the statement of facts. See Cady v. Sheahan, 467 F.3d 1057, 1060–61 (7th Cir. 2006); see also [36] ¶ 26; [36] at 18 (¶ 3), 19 (¶¶ 10–13, 15–17); [39] ¶¶ 24–25, 34, 43, 73–74. The parties dispute many facts, but the facts in those disputes are not all material. To the extent disputed facts are relevant and the parties rely on admissible evidence, I include both sides’ versions. safe…medically sound option for Ms. Hartnett…was that she be at home with appropriate oversight and care giving.” [36] ¶ 16.3 Hartnett and her late husband had purchased a nursing care policy through

Allied Life Insurance Company in 1998. [36] ¶ 5; [39] ¶¶ 6, 11. Jackson National assumed the policy through a series of mergers. [36] ¶ 6; [39] ¶ 7. The policy included coverage for eligible care in a nursing care or assisted living facility up to $170 a day subject to a compound cost of living increase. [36] ¶ 9; [39] ¶ 19. The policy also included an “alternative plan of care” benefit. [39] ¶ 20. This benefit included “[b]enefits for medical or non-medical Qualified Long Term Care Services payable to

end confinement in a Nursing Care Facility and continue recovery at home.” [36] ¶ 12; [39] ¶ 21. “Medical alternatives” under the policy “usually consist of providing services in an alternative setting.” [39] ¶ 22. The policy provides that if any policy terms conflict with the laws of the state of residence of the insured as of the policy’s effective date, the policy is amended to conform with those laws. [32-1] at 11; [36] ¶ 8. To receive alternative plan of care benefits, Hartnett had to show that (1) she was receiving benefits under “this policy pursuant to a plan of care” prescribed by a

physician; (2) Hartnett, her physician, and Jackson National agreed that an alternative plan of care was (a) medically acceptable and (b) the most cost efficient manner to provide benefits under the policy; (3) Hartnett had not exceeded the benefit period or maximum total lifetime benefit; (4) Hartnett had satisfied the elimination

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Hartnett v. Jackson National Life Insurance Company, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hartnett-v-jackson-national-life-insurance-company-ilnd-2025.