Karns v. Disability Reinsurance Management Services Inc.

879 F. Supp. 2d 1294, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 100413, 2012 WL 3030383
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Alabama
DecidedJuly 19, 2012
DocketCase No. 4:12-CV-752-VEH
StatusPublished

This text of 879 F. Supp. 2d 1294 (Karns v. Disability Reinsurance Management Services Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Karns v. Disability Reinsurance Management Services Inc., 879 F. Supp. 2d 1294, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 100413, 2012 WL 3030383 (N.D. Ala. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

VIRGINIA EMERSON HOPKINS, District Judge.

Before the court is Defendants’ Motion To Dismiss Plaintiffs State Law Claims, Claims for Punitive and Extracontractual Damages, and To Strike Demand for Jury Pursuant to ERISA (the “Motion To Dismiss”). (Doc. 5). The time allotted for a response pursuant to the court’s Uniform Initial Order (Doc. 6, App. Ill) has expired and Plaintiff has not responded. Therefore, the Motion To Dismiss is now under submission and ripe for the court’s decision.

I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Robin Earns (“Plaintiff’) originally filed this breach' of contract action in the Circuit Court of Etowah County, Alabama, on February 2, 2012. (Doc. 1 ¶ 1; id. at Ex. A. at Compl. at 1). According to her complaint, Plaintiff claims that Defendants “wrongly terminated [her] long term disability benefits effective March 7, 2011.” (Doc. 1 at Ex. A. at Compl. ¶ 4). Because of Defendants’ alleged breach of contract, including their bad faith in failing to properly investigate her claim, Plaintiff seeks to recover long-term disability insurance benefits in a lump sum payment equal to the present value of past and future benefits. (Id. ¶¶ 6, 11). Plaintiff identified Defendant American United Life Insurance Company as the party that issued her contract for long-term disability insurance coverage (id. ¶ 1), and she alleged that Defendant Disability Reinsurance Management Services, Inc., served as the claims administrator of the insurance policy. (Id. ¶ 4).

Defendants jointly removed the litigation to federal court on March 12, 2012, [1296]*1296asserting federal question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1441 as the basis for this court’s jurisdiction. (Doc. 1 at 1). Namely, Defendants contended that this case is removable because Plaintiff has asserted claims that arise under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. § 1001, et seq. On March 30, 2012, Plaintiff filed a Motion To Remand, asserting that her claims do not arise under ERISA. (Doc. 7). Concluding that Plaintiffs state law claims are completely preempted by ERISA, and thus, federal jurisdiction properly existed to support removal, the court denied the Motion To Remand in its Memorandum Opinion and Order entered contemporaneously on this date.

In their Motion To Dismiss, Defendants ask the court to dismiss Plaintiffs state law claims, including related claims for extracontractual and punitive damages, and to strike Plaintiffs jury demand, because such claims are preempted by ERISA. For good cause shown, and for the reasons explained below, the Motion To Dismiss is due to be GRANTED.

II. MOTION TO DISMISS STANDARD

A Rule 12(b)(6) motion attacks the legal sufficiency of the complaint. See Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require only that the complaint provide “‘a short and plain statement of the claim’ that will give the defendant fair notice of what the plaintiffs claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.” Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957), abrogated by Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 545, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007); see also Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a).

While a plaintiff must provide the grounds of his entitlement to relief, Rule 8 does not mandate the inclusion of “detailed factual allegations” within a complaint. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 545, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (quoting Conley, 355 U.S. at 47, 78 S.Ct. 99). However at the same time, “it demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). “[0]nce a claim has been stated adequately, it may be supported by showing any set of facts consistent with the allegations in the complaint.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 563, 127 S.Ct. 1955.

“[A] court considering a motion to dismiss can choose to begin by identifying pleadings that, because they are no more than conclusions, are not entitled to the assumption of truth.” Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1950. ‘While legal conclusions can provide the framework of a complaint, they must be supported by factual allegations.” Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1950. “When there are well-pleaded factual allegations, a court should assume their veracity and then determine whether they plausibly give rise to an entitlement to relief.” Id. (emphasis added). The court therefore “accept[s] as true the facts set forth in the complaint and draw[s] all reasonable inferences in the plaintiffs favor.” Randall v. Scott, 610 F.3d 701, 705 (11th Cir.2010). “Under Twombly’s construction of Rule 8 ... [a plaintiffs] complaint [must] ‘nudge[ ][any] claims’ ... ‘across the line from conceivable to plausible.’ Ibid.” Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1950-51.

A claim is plausible on its face “when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949. “The plausibility standard is not akin to a ‘probability requirement,’ but it asks for [1297]*1297more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Id. (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955).

Thus, “[a] district court considering a motion to dismiss shall begin by identifying conclusory allegations that are not entitled to an assumption of truth — legal conclusions must be supported by factual allegations. The district court should assume, on a case-by-case basis, that well pleaded factual allegations are true, and then determine whether they plausibly give rise to an entitlement to relief.” Randall, 610 F.3d at 709-710.

III. ANALYSIS

A. Complete Preemption of State Law Claims

Defendants first ask that the court “dismiss Plaintiffs state law claims of breach of contract and bad faith (Count Two) and require Plaintiff to amend Count I of her Complaint to assert an ERISA cause of action.” (Doc. 5 at 8). As explained in the court’s Memorandum Opinion entered this date, “[i]f a state law claim is completely preempted [by an Act of Congress], courts are required to recharacterize the claim as one arising under federal law for purposes of determining removal jurisdiction.” Engelhardt v. Paul Revere Life Ins. Co.,

Related

Kemp v. International Business MacHines Corp.
109 F.3d 708 (Eleventh Circuit, 1997)
Engelhardt v. Paul Revere Life Insurance
139 F.3d 1346 (Eleventh Circuit, 1998)
Ervast v. Flexible Products Co.
346 F.3d 1007 (Eleventh Circuit, 2003)
Conley v. Gibson
355 U.S. 41 (Supreme Court, 1957)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Randall v. Scott
610 F.3d 701 (Eleventh Circuit, 2010)

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879 F. Supp. 2d 1294, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 100413, 2012 WL 3030383, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/karns-v-disability-reinsurance-management-services-inc-alnd-2012.