Lincoln General Insurance v. U.S. Auto Insurance Services, Inc.

892 F. Supp. 2d 787, 2012 WL 3777408, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124260
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedAugust 30, 2012
DocketCivil Action No. 3:10-CV-2307-B
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 892 F. Supp. 2d 787 (Lincoln General Insurance v. U.S. Auto Insurance Services, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lincoln General Insurance v. U.S. Auto Insurance Services, Inc., 892 F. Supp. 2d 787, 2012 WL 3777408, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124260 (N.D. Tex. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

JANE J. BOYLE, District Judge.

Before the Court are Plaintiffs Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (doc. 98), filed November 18, 2011, and Defendants’ Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (doc. 95), also filed November 18, 2011. For the reasons stated below, the Court finds that Plaintiffs Motion should be and hereby is DENIED and that Defendants’ Motion should be and hereby is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.

I.

BACKGROUND

This case involves the alleged miscalculation and underpayment of amounts owed to Plaintiff Lincoln General Insurance Company (“Lincoln General”) by Defendant U.S. Auto Insurance Services, Inc. (“U.S. Auto”). Lincoln General is the reinsurer of a variety of auto insurance policies sold by U.S. Auto, as Managing General Agent for State and County Mutual Fire Insurance Company (“State and County”). Pl.’s Am. Compl. (“PL’s Compl.”) ¶¶ 1, 28. Doug Maxwell is the sole shareholder, director, and officer of U.S. Auto. Id. ¶ 18.

Pursuant to General Agency Agreements (“GAAs”) and Reinsurance Agreements (the “Agreements” or “Reinsurance Agreements”) signed in 2002 and 2003 between the foregoing entities, Lincoln General alleges that it was entitled to a portion of the premiums collected on the policies sold by U.S. Auto. Id. ¶. U.S. Auto’s responsibilities under the Agreements included the “collection and handling of premiums.” Id. ¶ 31. The [791]*791Agreements “also required U.S. Auto to provide Lincoln General with monthly reports detailing and calculating the amounts owing to Lincoln General.” Id. ¶ 40. In exchange for its services, U.S. Auto was to receive 20.6% of premiums as a base commission; these are referred to as “ceding commissions” in the Agreements. Id. ¶32. Additionally, U.S. Auto could receive an adjusted commission (“Contingency Commission”) from collected premiums as a reward for good performance if Incurred Losses1 were below specific targets. Id. ¶ 33. These collected premiums were held in trust accounts. Id. ¶ 36.

Under the GAAs, U.S. Auto deducted several payments from the trust, which included both the ceding commission and Contingency Commission payments.2 Id. ¶ 37. 7. In order to properly calculate the Contingency Commission, U.S. Auto estimated Incurred But Not Reported Losses3 (“IBNR”). Id. ¶ 43. Because U.S. Auto earned a Contingency Commission only when incurred losses were below target levels, including the proper level of IBNR is critical to deducting the correct amount that is owed to U.S. Auto. Id. After deducting these payments, the remaining balance was forwarded to Lincoln General on a monthly basis and deposited in an escrow account (“Premium Trust Account”). Id. ¶ 37; Defs.’ Br. Supp. Mot. Summ. J. (“Defs.’ Br.”) 5.

Beginning in late 2006, the premiums collected by U.S. Auto and retained in the Premium Trust Account were insufficient to pay losses arising from the Reinsurance Agreements. Id. ¶ 39. Consequently, Lincoln General established a Zero Balance Account (“ZBA”), which it funded, for the payment of Lincoln General’s share of any claims on policies it reinsured. Id. U.S. Auto was permitted to write checks drawn upon the ZBA to pay for Lincoln General’s share of reinsured claims. Id. Lincoln General alleges that U.S. Auto improperly used funds from the ZBA to pay for claims on insurance policies not reinsured by Lincoln General, amounting to losses of $845,052. Id. ¶ 58.

In April, 2007, U.S. Auto transferred its reinsurance business from Lincoln General to one of its own subsidiaries, Santa Fe Auto Insurance Company (“Santa Fe”). Id. ¶44. Around that same time, U.S. Auto also purportedly began withholding premiums due to Lincoln General. Id. ¶ 47. Lincoln General alleges U.S. Auto, in order to increase its own compensation, stopped using the method it had used for calculating its commissions under the Agreements for the prior four years. Id. Specifically, U.S. Auto began to withhold IBNR when calculating the Contingent [792]*792Commission. Id. As a result, this system of calculation allegedly withheld and misappropriated millions of dollars from Lincoln General to U.S. Auto. Id. ¶¶ 47-56. Lincoln General alleges that U.S. Auto manipulated the Contingent Commissions by excluding IBNR for the 2002-2005 Agreement years and removed IBNR from all 2007 Agreement Year Contingent Commission calculations. Id. ¶ 51. Lincoln General estimates that U.S. Auto withheld and misappropriated nearly $18,000,000 and thereby violated both contract and statutory law. Id. ¶ 53. Two lawsuits followed.

Lincoln General first brought suit against Defendants for the above-described conduct on November 27, 2007.4 (See generally Pl.’s Compl., Lincoln Gen. Ins. Co. v. U.S. Auto Ins. Servs., Inc., No. 3:07-cv-1985-B, 2007 WL 4839962 (N.D.Tex. Nov. 27, 2007)). In that case, Lincoln General brought claims of breach of contract, tortious interference with contract, breach of trust and/or fiduciary duties, aiding and abetting breach of trust and/or fiduciary duties, misappropriation and conversion of funds, unjust enrichment, and equitable accounting. Pl.’s Am. Compl. ¶¶ 56-83, Lincoln Gen. Ins. Co. v. U.S. Auto Ins. Servs., Inc., No. 3:07-cv-1985-B, 2008 WL 2561457 (N.D.Tex. May 1, 2008). In May 2009, the parties stipulated to the dismissal of the entire case without prejudice, representing to the Court that they had entered into an agreement that settled all pending claims. Stip. Dismissal, Lincoln Gen. Ins. Co. v. U.S. Auto Ins. Servs., Inc., No. 3:07-cv-1985-B, 2009 WL 1969139 (N.D.Tex. May 7, 2009). As a condition of their settlement, the parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”), which included a provision stating, “[i]n the event that the parties are not able to complete all of the actions required under this Memorandum of Understanding ..., Lincoln’s sole remedy shall be to refile the lawsuit.” PL’s Compl. Ex. B. [hereinafter “Mem. of Understanding”] § IX.

On November 12, 2010, Lincoln General filed its Original Complaint in the instant action, re-alleging its 2007 claims and adding other claims (doc. 1). On September 6, 2011, Lincoln General filed an Amended Complaint (doc. 57) that includes the following claims: (1) breach of contract (Lincoln General v. U.S. Auto); (2) conversion of expiring insurance policies (Lincoln General v. U.S. Auto & Santa Fe); (3) breach of trust and/or fiduciary duties (Lincoln General v. U.S. Auto); (4) misappropriation and conversion of funds (Lincoln General v. U.S. Auto); (5) tor[793]*793tious interference with contract (Lincoln General v. Gamma); (6) breach of trust/fiduciary duties (Lincoln General v. Doug Maxwell); (7) aiding and abetting breach of trust and/or fiduciary duties; (8) tortious interference with contract; and (9) attorney’s fees. On September 14, 2011, Defendants filed an Answer (doc. 62) that denied liability for each of Plaintiffs claims, and included a counterclaim for attorney’s fees. On November 18, 2011, both Lincoln General and U.S. Auto, along with the other Defendants, filed a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment. Plaintiffs Motion seeks summary judgment for its claims of breach of fiduciary duty against U.S.

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892 F. Supp. 2d 787, 2012 WL 3777408, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124260, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lincoln-general-insurance-v-us-auto-insurance-services-inc-txnd-2012.