Metropolitan Life Insurance v. Metropolitan Insurance Premium Finance Corp.

264 F. Supp. 507, 153 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 390, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10381
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedNovember 30, 1966
DocketCiv. No. 66-310
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 264 F. Supp. 507 (Metropolitan Life Insurance v. Metropolitan Insurance Premium Finance Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Metropolitan Life Insurance v. Metropolitan Insurance Premium Finance Corp., 264 F. Supp. 507, 153 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 390, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10381 (S.D. Fla. 1966).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND DECREE FOR INJUNCTION

ATKINS, District Judge.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiff, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, is a mutual life insurance corporation, organized and existing under the laws of the State of New York and is a citizen of that State.

2. Defendant, Metropolitan Insurance Premium Finance Corporation^ is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Florida and is a citizen of that State.

3. The jurisdiction of this Court is founded upon diversity of citizenship between the parties, and the matter in controversy, exclusive of interest and costs, exceeds the sum of $10,000.00.

4. Plaintiff, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, has transacted business as a life insurance company for nearly 100 years, to wit, continuously since March 24, 1868.

5. Plaintiff, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, was licensed to do business in the State of Florida on June 3, 1905 and thereafter has continuously transacted business as a life insurance company within the State of Florida.

6. Plaintiff, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, maintains 21 district offices in the State of Florida of which 5 are located within the Miami area and of which 1 is located in the Ainsley Building in Miami and has been so located since December 1955, and also a Detached Group Insurance Office.

7. Plaintiff, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, employs approximately 940 representatives in the State of Florida for the sale and servicing of its insurance other than Group. Approximately 205 of such representatives are employed in the Miami area.

8. Defendant, Metropolitan Insurance Premium Finance Corporation, was incorporated in the State of Florida on October 19, 1964 to carry on the business of insurance premium financing.

9. Defendant, Metropolitan Insurance Premium Finance Corporation was licensed as a premium finance corporation by the Insurance Commissioner in the State of Florida on March 3, 1965 pursuant to the provisions of Part XIV of Chapter 627, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., and has engaged continuously in the insurance premium financing business since that date.

10. Defendant, Metropolitan Insurance Premium Finance Corporation, has had its principal place of business since it was licensed in March of 1965 in the Ainsley Building, the same building in [509]*509which plaintiff maintains a District Office.

11. Plaintiff, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, made a demand of the defendant to discontinue the use of the name Metropolitan Insurance Premium Finance Corporation, but the defendant refused.

12. The use of the name Metropolitan Insurance Premium Finance Corporation is without the approval or prior knowledge of plaintiff, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, and plaintiff at no time consented to or acquiesced in the use of that name nor is there any connection between plaintiff and defendant nor does plaintiff sponsor defendant nor does it have any responsibility for defendant.

13. Plaintiff, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, is now authorized to carry on and does carry on a life and accident and health insurance business and an annuity business in all of the states of the United States, in the District of Columbia, in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and in the Provinces of Canada.

14. Plaintiff, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, at present, employs approximately 32,000 representatives for the sale and servicing of its insurance other than Group, and to a substantial extent for the receipt, at the homes of its policyholders, of insurance premiums.

15. Plaintiff, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, at present, maintains about 912 district offices out of which its representatives operate for the sale and servicing of its insurance other than Group, and to a substantial extent for the receipt, at the homes of its policyholders, of insurance premiums.

16. Plaintiff, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, maintains 12 Group Regional Offices and 28 Detached Group Offices throughout the United States and Canada for the sale and servicing of Group life and accident and health insurance and annuities.

17. More than 47,000,000 persons are covered by insurance issued by plaintiff, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, of whom approximately 700,000 are located in the State of Florida, representing approximately 12% of the population of the State, and of whom approximately 120.000 are located in the Miami area.

18. Plaintiff, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, has in force, at present, approximately $68,789,000,000 of personal life insurance covering approximately 31.664.000 persons.

19. More than 14,000,000 persons are covered by some form of accident and sickness insurance issued by plaintiff, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.

20. Substantially all of the more than 47,000,000 persons throughout the United States and Canada presently covered by insurance issued by plaintiff, and approximately 700,000 persons in the State of Florida, and approximately 120,000 persons in the Miami area, presently covered by insurance issued by plaintiff, has received and in most instances retained in his or her possession a policy or certificate of insurance in which the corporate and trade name of the plaintiff, “METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY,” appears prominently.

21. Plaintiff, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, is the largest insurance company in the world, and at the end of 1965 had assets valued at over $22,485,000,000 and life insurance, including Group life insurance, of more than $122,180,000,000 in force and received in 1965 total direct premiums from accident and sickness insurance of over $729,000,000.

22. Plaintiff, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, has extensively and continuously over a period of years advertised its corporate and trade name “METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY” in magazines having a circulation in the State of Florida, in newspapers throughout the United States and Canada, including newspapers circulated in the State of Florida, in radio broacasts throughout the United States, including the State of Florida, and by pamphlets.

[510]*51023. In the following years, plaintiff, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, has expended the following sums for said advertising:

1956 $4,266,919 1957 4,133,150 1958 4,755,129 1959 5,093,865 1960 5,874,097 1961 7,585,957 1962 6,473,000 1963 6,045,000 1964 6,163,000 1965 5,976,000

24. Plaintiff, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, has for over 50 years maintained a major division known as the Health and Welfare Division, through which it has carried on numerous health projects of a major nature and has printed and circulated pamphlets, films, and exhibits, and has utilized other means of communication, on various subjects dealing with human health and safety, in connection with all of which the corporate and trade name “METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY” clearly appears and is brought to the attention of the people of the United States and Canada.

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264 F. Supp. 507, 153 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 390, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10381, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/metropolitan-life-insurance-v-metropolitan-insurance-premium-finance-corp-flsd-1966.