Jackson v. The Aliera Companies Inc

• Court: District Court, W.D. Washington
• Decided: November 12, 2021
• Docket: 2:19-cv-01281
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

The Honorable Barbara J. Rothstein 1

7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 9 AT SEATTLE

10 GERALD JACKSON, ROSLYN JACKSON, DEAN MELLOM, JON PERRIN AND JULIE NO. 2:19-cv-01281-BJR 11 PERRIN, individually and on behalf of all 12 others similarly situated, ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ 13 Plaintiffs, MOTION TO STRIKE ALIERA’S 14 ANSWER AND ENTER DEFAULT v. JUDGMENT OR IN THE 15 ALTERNATIVE TO GRANT THE ALIERA COMPANIES, INC., a PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR 16 Delaware corporation; ALIERA SUMMARY JUDGMENT 17 HEALTHCARE, INC., a Delaware corporation; TRINITY HEALTHSHARE, 18 INC., a Delaware corporation,

19 Defendants. 20 THIS MATTER came before the Court on Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class 21 Certification. The Court has considered the Plaintiffs’ Motion, the Declarations of 22 Eleanor Hamburger, Jon Perrin, Dean Mellom, Roslyn Jackson, Neil F. Luria (both 23 original and supplemental), and all attached Exhibits in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion 24 attached to those declarations, the Declaration of Mailing (Dkt. No. 160) evidencing 25 service of this Court’s October 26, 2021 Order (Dkt. No. 159) and Notice of Additional 26 Authorities. No response was received from Defendant Aliera. 1 The Court has also considered the other pleadings and records on file. 2 Based upon the foregoing, and having found that Aliera is unrepresented, 3 despite service of the Motion and all documents in support of the motion (original and 4 supplemental) at Aliera’s last known place of business, and on the recorded Assignee 5 for Aliera, and despite the allowance of sufficient time for Aliera to retain counsel (Dkt. 6 150) and respond, the Court hereby: 7 1. GRANTS Plaintiffs’ Motion to Strike Aliera’s Answer. The Clerk is hereby 8 ORDERED to strike Aliera’s Answer from the record. 9 2. GRANTS Plaintiffs’ Motion for Entry of Default. 10 3. GRANTS Plaintiffs’ Motion for Default Judgment against Aliera. Pursuant to 11 Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(b)(2), the Court enters a default judgment against Defendant 12 Aliera in favor of Roslyn and Gerald Jackson, Dean Mellom, Jon and Julie 13 Perrin, and the Plaintiff Class. Based upon the records and pleadings herein, 14 and as described in the Court’s oral ruling (incorporated herein by reference), 15 the Court concludes that Defendant Aliera designed, marketed, and sold the 16 Named Plaintiffs and the Plaintiff Class unauthorized and illegal health 17 insurance. The Court further concludes that Aliera’s acts and omissions were 18 also violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act. The damages 19 suffered as a result of these illegal and fraudulent practices is as follows: 20 (a) Roslyn and Gerald Jackson suffered damages in the amount of $12,082.00 21 in reformation damages; 22 (b) Dean Mellom suffered damages in the amount of $3,442.00 in rescission 23 damages; 24 (c) Jon and Julie Perrin suffered damages in the amount of $7,107.92 in 25 rescission damages; 26 1 (d) the Plaintiff Class suffered damages totaling $20,646,077.08 (excluding the 2 damages assessed to the named plaintiffs), reflecting the greater of either 3 (i) recission damages or (ii) reformation damages for each member of the 4 Class; 5 (e) the Plaintiffs and Plaintiff Class are also entitled to an additional $250 per 6 class member in damages stemming from Aliera’s violation of the 7 Consumer Protection Act; 8 (f) Accordingly, the total damages, including CPA damages, for Roslyn and 9 Gerald Jackson is $12,582.00; for Dean Mellom is $3,692.00; and for Jon and 10 Julie Perrin, is $7,607.92. The Plaintiff Class, excluding the claims of the 11 named plaintiffs, is awarded $21,352,827.08 ($20,646,077.08 in 12 recission/reformation damages and $706,750 in CPA damages). 13 Judgment shall and hereby is entered in these amounts. 14 4. Orders that Plaintiffs’ counsel may petition for attorney fees and litigation 15 costs pursuant to RCW 19.86.090 and Olympic Steamship Co. v. Centennial Ins. 16 Co., 117 Wn.2d 37, 811 P.2d 673 (1991). 17 DATED: November 11, 2021. 18 A 19 20 B arbara Jacobs Rothstein U.S. District Court Judge 21 22 23 24 25 26 Presented by: 1 2 SIRIANNI YOUTZ SPOONEMORE HAMBURGER PLLC 3 s/ Eleanor Hamburger 4 Richard E. Spoonemore (WSBA #21833) 5 Eleanor Hamburger (WSBA #26478) Email: rspoonemore@sylaw.com 6 ehamburger@sylaw.com 7 MYERS & COMPANY, PLLC 8 s/ Michael David Myers 9 Michael David Myers (WSBA #22486) 10 Samantha Lin (WSBA #50782) 1530 Eastlake Avenue East 11 Seattle, WA 98102 Tel. (206) 398-1188; Fax (206) 400-1115 12 Email: mmyers@myers-company.com 13 slin@myers-company.com

14 MEHRI & SKALET, PLLC 15 s/ Jay Angoff 16 Jay Angoff, Pro Hac Vice Cyrus Mehri, Pro Hac Vice 17 1250 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 300 18 Washington, DC 20036 Tel. (202) 822-5100 19 Email: jangoff@findjustice.com 20 cmehri@findjustice.com

21 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 22 23 24 25 26