John Hancock Life Insurance v. Perchikov

553 F. Supp. 2d 229, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31778, 2008 WL 1787711
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedApril 17, 2008
Docket04 CV 98(NG)(MDG)
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 553 F. Supp. 2d 229 (John Hancock Life Insurance v. Perchikov) 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
John Hancock Life Insurance v. Perchikov, 553 F. Supp. 2d 229, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31778, 2008 WL 1787711 (E.D.N.Y. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION & ORDER

GERSHON, District Judge:

Plaintiff John Hancock Life Insurance Company (“John Hancock”) brings this action to rescind a policy of life insurance issued to Laryssa Vasserman, the decedent, alleging that Ms. Vasserman made material misrepresentations in her application for the policy. Elizabeth Catchalova, the administratrix of Ms. Vasserman’s estate, counterclaims against John Hancock for wrongful death and seeks payment of the policy’s proceeds on behalf of Ms. Vas-serman’s estate claiming (1) that the designated beneficiary, Eugene Perchikov, procured the policy with the premeditated intent to murder Ms. Vasserman and (2) that John Hancock’s negligent issuance of the insurance policy was the proximate cause of Ms. Vasserman’s death. Jurisdiction in this case is based on diversity of citizenship pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332.

John Hancock now moves for summary judgment as to its rescission claim, arguing that the insurance policy is void ab initio (1) because Ms. Catchalova alleges that the policy issued by John Hancock was procured by Perchikov with an intent to defraud John Hancock and murder Ms. Vasserman and (2) because Ms. Vasser-man made material misrepresentations in her policy application about her income and occupation and about the existence of other life insurance policies in force at the time of her application.

FACTS

Unless otherwise indicated, the following facts are undisputed.

Laryssa Vasserman, along with her daughter Elizabeth Yelizaveta) Klyuchni-kova, emigrated from the Ukraine to BrooHyn, New York in 1999. Upon arriving in the United States, Ms. Vasserman could not understand, speak, or write English and could speak and understand only the Russian language. Catchalova Aff., ¶¶ 7, 8.

Although she remained married to a man named Alexander Vasserman from 1999 to the date of her death in 2002, Ms. Vasserman separated from Mr. Vasserman in early 2000 and lived apart from him thereafter. Catchalova Aff., ¶ 9. Soon after separating from her husband, Ms. Vasser-man met Eugene Perchikov, also known as Eyal Shahar, in Brooklyn, New York. Cat-chalova Aff., ¶ 10. Mr. Perchikov resided *232 in Israel but frequently traveled to the United States and stayed with Ms. Vasser-man during these visits. Catchalova Aff., ¶ 11. On several occasions, Mr. Perchikov told Ms. Vasserman and others that, if anything happened to Ms. Vasserman, Mr. Perchikov would take care of Ms. Vasser-man’s daughter. Abmetko Aff., ¶ 9; Cat-chalova Aff., ¶ 12.

Shortly after meeting Mr. Perchikov, Ms. Vasserman applied for life insurance with many different insurance companies, including John Hancock. Two years after obtaining the various insurance policies described below, Ms. Vasserman told a friend that she had procured life insurance to benefit her daughter, but that she wanted to change the beneficiary on the policy to her sister or someone else because she was concerned that her daughter would be unable to handle the money. Abmetko Aff., ¶ 11. On September 19, 2000, Ms. Vasser-man applied to Allstate Life Insurance Company of New York (“Allstate”) for a $1.5 million policy of life insurance, listing Ms. Vasserman’s sister Irena Esina as primary beneficiary and Ms. Vasserman’s daughter Elizabeth as contingent beneficiary. 1 Debrot Aff., Ex. A. During the fall of 2000 Ms. Vasserman also applied for, and was issued, a $1 million life insurance policy from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (“MetLife”). Debrot Aff., Ex. B. In addition, Ms. Vasserman applied for and was issued a $1 million life insurance policy from Union Central Life Insurance Company (“Union”); this policy listed Alexander Vasserman as Ms. Vasserman’s “husband” and primary beneficiary. De-brot Aff., Ex. C. Lastly, around the same time as her insurance applications to Allstate, Metropolitan, and Union, Ms. Vas-serman applied for and was issued a $1 million life insurance policy from John Hancock that listed Eugene Perchikov as Ms. Vasserman’s “husband” and primary beneficiary. Flaherty Aff., Ex. 5.

Because the John Hancock life insurance policy that was issued in the fall of 2000 lapsed as a result of non-payment of premiums in early 2001, Ms. Vasserman applied for a new $1 million life insurance policy from John Hancock in October 2001- — this time listing Eugene Perchikov as Ms. Vasserman’s “cousin” and primary beneficiary. Debrot Aff., Ex. F (Clancy Dep., 75); Flaherty Aff, Ex. 1. It is the second John Hancock policy, issued to Ms. Vasserman in October 2001, that is the subject of the present litigation.

Ms. Vasserman’s October 2001 application to John Hancock, as well as her previous John Hancock application, stated that Ms. Vasserman was self-employed as an artist making more than $100,000 a year and that Ms. Vasserman did not have any other life insurance in force at the time of her application. Flaherty Aff., Ex. 1. Based on the fact that Mr. Perchikov accompanied Ms. Vasserman when meeting with John Hancock agents during the application process, Debrot Aff., Ex. L (Clancy Dep., 49), and Ms. Vasserman’s inability to communicate in English, Catchalova Aff., ¶ 8, Ms. Catchalova argues in her brief that it must have been Mr. Perchikov who provided information to John Hancock’s agent and determined the application’s actual contents.

Mr. Perchikov paid the premiums on the 2001 John Hancock policy from the time *233 that the policy was issued until Ms. Vas-serman died on November 19, 2002. Because Ms. Vasserman died within two years of the issuance of the policy, John Hancock conducted a routine claim investigation after receiving a Claimant’s Statement executed by Mr. Perchikov. The Claimant’s Statement executed by Mr. Perchikov requested payout of the policy’s benefits and included a death certificate listing Ms. Vasserman’s cause of death as “small coronary artery disease.” Flaherty Aff., Ex. 3. It was during the course of its investigation that John Hancock asserts it learned for the first time that Ms. Vasser-man had two other million-dollar life insurance policies that had been in force at the time she applied for life insurance coverage with John Hancock. Flaherty Aff., Ex. 5, 6, 7, 9. Furthermore, through its investigation, John Hancock claims that it discovered for the first time that Ms. Vas-serman was employed as a “home attendant” for Bhrags Housekeeping, earning less than $20,000 annually. Flaherty Aff., Ex. 3, 16. Based on its investigation and its belief that it never would have issued the insurance policy if Ms. Vasserman’s application had accurately represented her income, occupation, and other existing insurance, John Hancock refused to pay out benefits either to Mr. Perchikov or to Ms. Vasserman’s daughter. Flaherty Aff., Ex. 14. Instead, John Hancock simply tendered a check to Mr. Perchikov returning the amount of money that he had already paid in premiums for the policy. Flaherty Aff., Ex. 11-13.

Arguing that the 2001 insurance policy is void ab initio (1) because Ms. Catchalo-va alleges that the policy issued by John Hancock was procured by Perchikov with an intent to defraud John Hancock and murder Ms. Vasserman, and (2) because Ms.

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553 F. Supp. 2d 229, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31778, 2008 WL 1787711, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/john-hancock-life-insurance-v-perchikov-nyed-2008.