Mathews v. Hixson Bros., Inc.

865 So. 2d 1024, 3 La.App. 3 Cir. 1065, 2004 La. App. LEXIS 138, 2004 WL 205844
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 4, 2004
DocketNo. 03-1065
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 865 So. 2d 1024 (Mathews v. Hixson Bros., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mathews v. Hixson Bros., Inc., 865 So. 2d 1024, 3 La.App. 3 Cir. 1065, 2004 La. App. LEXIS 138, 2004 WL 205844 (La. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

| WOODARD, Judge.

The Plaintiffs appeal the trial court’s ruling to decertify the class in this action. We reverse the trial court’s judgment and remand for further proceedings.

* * *

This dispute concerns whether a class action is the proper procedural method for adjudicating the Plaintiffs’ claims. The underlying claims involve burial insurance policies that Central State Life Insurance Company (Central State) issued which designated a Hixson Brothers Funeral Home as the provider of funeral benefits. These policies provide that Hixson Brothers Funeral Home will furnish certain funeral benefits, including a casket, when the policyholder dies. Plaintiff, Ms. Dorothy L. Mathews, alleges that Hixson refused to furnish these benefits when her husband, Mr. Joe Mathews, a holder of one of the described policies, died.

When her husband passed away, Ms. Mathews and her son, Joe, Jr., presented Hixson with the policy. When Hixson showed her the press board box that it provided under the policy, she found it to be completely unacceptable. When she refused to accept the particular casket, Hixson informed her that she had to accept it in order to receive the other benefits listed in the policy, such as embalming, a funeral coach, use of the funeral home, and necessary cemetery equipment. Hix-son would not allow her to purchase another casket at retail price without forfeiting all of the benefits in the policy. Rather than allowing her to buy another casket and substitute it under the policy, Hixson required her to pay for the casket as well as current retail costs for the additional services which were supposed to have been provided under the policy. They simply gave her a credit of $1,000.00, the face value of the policy, against the total amount of the funeral bill. Accordingly, Ms. Mathews spent $6,299.00 on burial products and services and received a $1,000.00 credit against this amount with Hixson.

Consequently, she instituted an action for breach of contract against Hixson Brothers Funeral Home, Hixson Brothers, Inc. (collectively Hixson) and the insurance company that has assumed Central State’s burial policies, Kilpatrick Life Insurance Company (Kilpatrick). She, also, sought to certify a class of similarly situated Plaintiffs; namely, other beneficiaries or heirs who purchased a Central State (now | gKilpatrick) or Hixson policy and made funeral arrangements under that policy at any of Hixson’s funeral homes.

Subsequently, Ms. Susan Robbins joined as a Plaintiff in the action because when Ms. Robbins made her grandmother’s funeral arrangements at Hixson, she, too, found the casket that Hixson provided under her grandmother’s policy unacceptable. Ms. Robbins offered to accept the particular casket and donate it or dispose of it in order to receive the other benefits [1027]*1027of the policy and to purchase another casket in which to bury her grandmother. However, Hixson informed her she must, either, bury her grandmother in the proffered casket or accept a credit for the face value of the policy and apply it against her outright purchase of another casket and those services which, otherwise, would have been provided under the policy.

Thus, Ms. Mathews sought to certify a class of persons like herself and Ms. Robbins who had made funeral arrangements for a loved one at a Hixson Funeral Home under a Kilpatrick or Hixson policy. Recognizing that contract claims prescribe after ten years, she limited the class to those who made funeral arrangements from May 26, 1989, ten years before the date that Ms. Mathews filed her action, until the date of class certification.

The policies involved are not exactly the same; however, they all include a casket as part of the funeral benefits. Hixson admits that only one casket was offered on those policies which had a face value of $1,500.00 or less, and for policies with a greater face value amount, they offered a different casket. Specifically, Plaintiffs allege that “in servicing these burial policies, Hixson unilaterally decided that two types of press board caskets (i.e. particle board) were the only caskets that would be provided under the terms of the policies in question.” They are identified as Models 200 and 250. “The Model 200 is a cloth-covered particle board, i.e. press board box. It is furnished to policyholders with a policy having a face value of less than $1500. The Model 250 is also a cloth-covered particle board, i.e. press board box, with a slightly different contour. It is furnished to those whose policies have a face value of more than $1500.” “They were not kept on display in the casket showroom” but, instead, one of them was “rolled out of a utility (broom) closet into the showroom.”

The maker of the policies did not specify the type of casket the funeral benefit included to put potential purchasers on notice that it was, in fact, a pressboard casket. Certain policies provided for a “casket — (selected by family).” In these instances, |3Hixson gave the family a choice between these same two caskets, neither of which they displayed in then-showroom or offered for sale to the general public. Furthermore, Hixson admits that its regular practice was to prohibit any casket substitutions under these policies and to give, only, a credit in the amount of the policy towards the purchase of any other casket and the purchase of the other goods and services which, otherwise, would have been provided under the policy at no cost.

Because some of these policies contained a term limiting the right to sue on the policy to two years after the insured’s death, the Defendants asserted that many of the class members had lost their rights to bring an action. Consequently, they argued that the class was not so numerous that it required class action treatment. The trial court responded with a finding that any policy term, limiting the time period for bringing an action, was null and void. Furthermore, it found that the action met all of the prerequisites for class certification. Consequently, the Defendants appealed that ruling.

A panel of this court reversed the trial court’s ruling that the burial policies’ time limit provisions were null and void but found that this reversal did not automatically make certification inappropriate.1 Rather, this court acknowledged that un[1028]*1028der La.Civ.Code art. 592(A)(3)(c), the trial court would have the power to enlarge or restrict the class, amend or reverse certification at any time.2

Subsequently, the Defendants urged the trial court to decertify the class, asserting that this court’s ruling on the time limit provisions effected such a dramatic decrease in class members that the Plaintiffs no longer met the numerosity prerequisite. They, also, argued that the class definition was overly broad because it included members who were not necessarily aggrieved or harmed by the Defendants’ conduct; under an appropriately revised definition, the Plaintiffs did not meet their burden to prove the numerosity prerequisite; and no additional claimants coming forward since the certification hearing indicated that it is unlikely that a sufficient number of Plaintiffs will file suit to make joinder impracticable; thus, a class action was no longer a superior method of adjudication.

|/The trial court agreed with the Defendants and granted their motion to recall class certification. The Plaintiffs have appealed.

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Bluebook (online)
865 So. 2d 1024, 3 La.App. 3 Cir. 1065, 2004 La. App. LEXIS 138, 2004 WL 205844, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mathews-v-hixson-bros-inc-lactapp-2004.