Karpenski v. American General Life Companies, LLC

999 F. Supp. 2d 1235, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46326, 2014 WL 1338088
District Court, W.D. Washington·Decided April 2, 2014·No. Case No. C12-01569RSM·Published·Cited by 23 cases

Opinion

ORDER ON MOTIONS

RICARDO S. MARTINEZ, District Judge.

THIS MATTER comes before the Court on Motion for Partial Summary Judgment by Plaintiff (Dkt. # 142), Motion for Summary Judgment by Defendants (Dkt. # 145), and Motion for Reconsideration by Plaintiff (Dkt. # 197). On February 14, 2014, the Court denied Plaintiffs claim to exclude her group disability insurance application from evidence and deferred the parties’ breach of contract and rescission claims pending supplemental briefing on the application of Virginia law. Having considered the parties’ supplemental briefs, oral argument, the remainder of the record, and applicable case law, and for the reasons that follow, the Court hereby denies Plaintiffs Motion for Reconsideration and denies summary judgment on the remaining issues pending before it.

Background

This matter arises out of the decision of Defendants American General Life Company (“American General”) and The United States Life Insurance Company (“US Life”) to rescind the long term disability coverage of Plaintiff Christyanna Karpenski due to alleged misrepresentations made by her on her Disability Insurance Application (“Application”). A complete factual account of this matter is presented in the Court’s Order of February 14, 2014, denying in part Plaintiffs Motion for Partial Summary Judgment. See Dkt. # 192, pp. 1-5. The Court therein determined that the choice-of-law provision in the American Physical Therapy Association (“APTA”) Master Policy, under which Plaintiff procured coverage, selecting Virginia law as the governing law was valid and enforceable. The Court also denied Plaintiffs claim to preclude Defendants from introducing her Application into evidence because of Defendant U.S. Life’s failure to attach it to her Certificate of Insurance in her Welcome Packet.

As the parties had only briefed the application of Virginia law to the attachment claim raised by Plaintiffs partial summary judgment motion, the Court directed the parties to file further supplemental briefs on the application of Virginia law to the remaining contractual claims for rescission, violation of the Application’s good health provision, and breach of contract. Id. at pp. 25-26. In denying Plaintiffs subsequent motion to stay briefing pending a motion for reconsideration, the Court clarified its previous Order by permitting the parties to additionally address whether Virginia and Washington law conflict with regards to the remaining claims. See Dkt. # 194, p. 2. Remaining before the Court are Plaintiffs claims in its Motion for Par[1239]*1239tial Summary Judgment that Defendants are precluded from rescinding her insurance coverage because they had no evidence of intent to deceive and for breach of contract. See Dkt. # 142. Also remaining are Defendants’ claims in its Motion for Summary Judgment for rescission under RCW 48.18.090 and due to Plaintiffs failure to satisfy the “good health” provision in her Application. See Dkt. # 145.

On February 28, 2014, Plaintiff filed a Motion for Reconsideration, moving the Court to reconsider its Order of February 14, 2014 based on its application of Virginia law to the contractual claims presented in this case. Specifically, Plaintiff contends that: (1) the Court already ruled that Washington rescission law is the law of the case, (2) it is manifest error to apply Virginia law to any or all claims, and (3) the Court manifestly erred in not ruling on the applicability of RCW 48.18.080. This Order considers Plaintiffs Motion for Reconsideration, the remaining issues raised in the parties’ motions for summary judgment, and Plaintiffs Motion to Strike evidence introduced by Defendants in their supplemental brief (Dkt. # 201).

Analysis

a) Motion for Reconsideration

Motions for reconsideration are disfavored and will be denied “in the absence of a showing of manifest error in the prior ruling or a showing of new facts or legal authority which could not have been brought to [the Court’s] attention earlier with reasonable diligence.” Local Rule CR 7(h)(1). Where summary judgment has been entered, “ ‘after thoughts’ or ‘shifting of ground’ are not an appropriate basis for reconsideration.” Fay Corp. v. BAT Holdings I, Inc., 651 F.Supp. 307, 309 (W.D.Wash.1987). Motions for reconsideration are not a vehicle for a litigant to attempt a second bite at the apple by raising facts or arguments available to him or her prior to the entry of summary judgment. See Rosenfeld v. U.S. Department of Justice, 57 F.3d 803, 811 (9th Cir.1995) (holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion in declining to consider an argument “raised for the first time on reconsideration without a good excuse”); Hopkins v. Andaya, 958 F.2d 881, 887 n. 5 (9th Cir.1992) (“A defeated litigant cannot set aside judgment because he failed to present on a motion for summary judgment all the facts known to him that might have been useful to the court.”).

Because the Court fails to identify any manifest error in its Order, the Court denies Plaintiffs Motion for Reconsideration. First, Plaintiff contradicts herself in arguing that the Court erred in addressing the applicability of Virginia law as it previously applied Washington law in its Order on bifurcation (Dkt. #41). As Plaintiff herself points out, Washington follows the rule of depecage, whereby “different issues in a single case arising out of a common nucleus of facts may be decided according to the substantive law of different states.” FutureSelect Portfolio Mgmt., Inc. v. Tremont Group Holdings, Inc., 175 Wash.App. 840, 856 n. 15, 309 P.3d 555 (2013). Moreover, the issue of choice of law was not before the Court when it considered Defendants’ motion for bifurcation. To the extent that Plaintiff argues that Defendants waived their right to argue for the enforceability of the choice-of-law provision in Plaintiffs insurance contract, such an argument is unavailing. A party to a contract may impliedly waive a contract provision meant for its benefit through “unequivocal acts of conduct evidencing an intent to waive.” Coastal Const. Group, Inc. v. Stellar J Corp., 164 Wash.App. 1032, 2011 WL 5147672 *7 (2011) (citing Mike M. Johnson, Inc. v. Spokane County, 150 Wash.2d 375, 386, 78 P.3d 161 (2003)). It is undisputed that no conflict of law issue had [1240]*1240previously arisen, and thus there had been no opportunity for Defendants to waive Virginia law. Accordingly, Defendants’ prior failure to assert Virginia law was not an unequivocal act evidencing their intent to waive the contractual choice of Virginia law. See Id.

Plaintiff further argues that the Court erred by misclassifying Plaintiff’s insurance as “true group insurance.” Despite characterizing her insurance policy as “group insurance” throughout litigation, Plaintiff now for the first time attempts to characterize it as a “franchise policy.” Relying on dicta in Erickson v. Sentry Life Ins. Co., 43 Wash.App. 651, 655 n. 1, 719 P.2d 160

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Karpenski v. American General Life Companies, LLC, 999 F. Supp. 2d 1235, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46326, 2014 WL 1338088 (W.D. Wash. 2014).

999 F. Supp. 2d 1235 (Karpenski v. American General Life Companies, LLC) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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