Hicks v. North American Co. for Life & Health Insurance

47 So. 3d 181, 2010 Miss. App. LEXIS 16, 2010 WL 11185
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJanuary 5, 2010
Docket2008-CA-01364-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 47 So. 3d 181 (Hicks v. North American Co. for Life & Health Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hicks v. North American Co. for Life & Health Insurance, 47 So. 3d 181, 2010 Miss. App. LEXIS 16, 2010 WL 11185 (Mich. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

CARLTON, J.,

for the Court.

¶ 1. This appeal arises from an order granting summary judgment in favor of appellees/defendants North American Company for Life and Health Insurance (North American) and Cliff Hancock d/b/a Hancock Insurance Agency (Hancock). The Benton County Circuit Court found that the six policy holders’/plaintiffs’/appellants’ (the Appellants) claims were barred by Mississippi’s three-year statute of limitations. Finding ambiguity in five of the policies, and error with the trial court’s grant of summary judgment as to the policies of Sarah Hicks, L.T. Hicks, William Evans, Robert Childers, and Ray Spencer, we reverse and remand. However, we affirm the trial court’s grant of summary judgment with respect to Martha Jo Hale’s policy.

FACTS

¶ 2. The underlying complaint in this case was filed on behalf of six 1 Appellants who purchased universal life insurance policies from North American through Hancock, the insurance agent. The Appellants contend that Hancock sold them universal *183 life insurance policies with terms that differed from the coverage Hancock verbally assured them they were buying. Universal life insurance constitutes a flexible insurance product that differs from whole life and term life. 2 Universal life provides a flexible death benefit. It also can build a cash value at a lower cost than whole life, and over time that cash value grows tax deferred in accordance with applicable interest rates. Additionally, the insured maintains the ability to borrow from the cash value or withdraw from the cash value. However, such loans or withdrawals reduce the death benefit.

¶ 3. The Appellants allege the following causes of action: fraud, intentional misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, fraudulent inducement, civil conspiracy, breach of obligations of good faith and fair dealing, negligent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary and quasi-fiduciary obligations, negligence and/or gross negligence, and tortious breach of contract.

¶ 4. All of the Appellants, with the exception of Hale, purchased their policies in late 1992 and early 1993. Hale purchased her policy in 1998. 3 The Appellants claim that Hancock told them their insurance premiums would remain the same throughout the life of the insurance policies, and that if they paid the policy premiums, the policies would remain in effect until their death. Evans contends that when he received a letter advising him that the policy premiums had increased, he realized that the policy Hancock had sold him was not the policy Hancock initially represented to him. Evans contacted Hancock to inquire about the discrepancy. When Hancock refused to provide an answer about the policy increase, Evans initiated the present suit. The Appellants filed their complaint on August 31, 2004.

¶ 5. North American and Hancock filed separate motions for summary judgment as to each of the Appellants’ claims. North American and Hancock argue that each of the Appellants’ claims are barred by the three-year statute of limitations set forth in Mississippi Code Annotated section 15-1-49 (Rev.2003). Further, they argue that the Appellants provided no evidence of any fraudulent concealment which would toll the statute of limitations, and that no fiduciary relationship existed between Hancock and the Appellants.

¶ 6. In response, the Appellants argue that they filed their complaint within the statute of limitations. They claim that they had no reason to suspect that they had been deceived until 2004, when they either received letters from North American notifying them that their premiums were increasing or received information from their attorney, Mike Greer, explaining the potential problems with their insurance policies. They promptly filed suit upon learning of these problems.

¶ 7. The circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of North American and Hancock and dismissed the Appellants’ complaint with prejudice. The Appellants now appeal, asserting that they filed their claims within the statute-of-limitations period, and that genuine issues of material fact exist with regard to their fraudulent concealment and breach of fiduciary duty claims.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 8. We apply a de novo standard of review to a grant of summary judgment by *184 the trial court. Hudson v. Courtesy Motors, Inc., 794 So.2d 999, 1002(¶7) (Miss.2001). Summary judgment is proper “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” M.R.C.P. 56(c). “The evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party against whom the motion has been made.” Northern Elec. Co. v. Phillips, 660 So.2d 1278, 1281 (Miss.1995).

¶ 9. “The burden of demonstrating that no genuine issue of fact exists is on the moving party.” Lewallen v. Slawson, 822 So.2d 236, 238(¶ 6) (Miss.2002) (citation omitted). “The presence of fact issues in the record does not per se entitle a party to avoid summary judgment.” Id. “The existence of a hundred contested issues of fact will not thwart summary judgment where there is no genuine dispute regarding the material issues of fact.” Id. (citation omitted).

DISCUSSION

I. Whether the claims are barred by the three-year statute of limitations.

¶ 10. Mississippi Code Annotated section 15-1-49(1) provides for a three-year statute of limitations for all actions for which no other period of limitation has been prescribed. This limitations period begins within three years after the cause of action accrued. Id. However, the statute provides an exception to the three-year limitation period for certain situations. Section 15-1-49(2) states that: “In actions for which no other period of limitation is prescribed and which involve latent injury or disease, the cause of action does not accrue until the plaintiff has discovered, or by reasonable diligence should have discovered, the injury.”

¶ 11. In Donald v. Amoco Production Co., 735 So.2d 161, 167(¶16) (Miss.1999), the supreme court clarified that under section 15-1^9(2), “the statute of limitations commences upon discovery of an injury, and discovery is an issue of fact to be decided by a jury when there is a genuine dispute.”

¶ 12. We find Weathers v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 14 So.3d 688 (Miss.2009) controlling in our analysis of evaluating the issues raised herein. Weathers also provides guidance in the application of the section 15-1-49(2) discovery-of-injury rule. In Weathers, Daniel Ray Weathers, a policy holder, sued his life insurer, Met-Life, to recover for fraud, breach of contract, and negligent supervision arising out of the sale of a policy with a vanishing-premium obligation. Id. at 690(¶ 7). Met-Life filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that Weathers’ claims were time-barred under section 15-1-49. Id.

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47 So. 3d 181, 2010 Miss. App. LEXIS 16, 2010 WL 11185, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hicks-v-north-american-co-for-life-health-insurance-missctapp-2010.