Mills v. Foremost Insurance

511 F.3d 1300, 69 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1174, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 86, 2008 WL 45806
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJanuary 4, 2008
Docket06-16458
StatusPublished
Cited by164 cases

This text of 511 F.3d 1300 (Mills v. Foremost Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mills v. Foremost Insurance, 511 F.3d 1300, 69 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1174, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 86, 2008 WL 45806 (11th Cir. 2008).

Opinion

HULL, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs Dale J. Mills and C. Diane Mills (the “Millses”) appeal the district court’s order granting Defendant Foremost Insurance Company’s (“Foremost’s”) motion to dismiss their class action complaint. After review and oral argument, we reverse the district court’s order and remand for further proceedings.

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Complaint’s Allegations

In February 2006, the Millses filed a class action complaint against Foremost in Florida state court. According to the complaint, the Millses are Florida residents who own a mobile home that was insured by Foremost under a “Mobile Home Insurance Policy” (the “Policy”). 1 In September 2004, Hurricane Frances damaged the Millses’ home and personal property covered under the Policy. The Millses submitted a claim to Foremost under the Policy and received a loss payment that was less than they were entitled to. Specifically, Foremost failed to compensate the Millses for contractors’ overhead and profit charges, and for state and local sales taxes on materials, incurred by the Millses in having their hurricane-damaged property repaired or replaced. 2 The complaint also alleges that Foremost knowingly and unlawfully failed to pay overhead, profit, and taxes in Foremost’s estimates of hurricane-damaged losses and failed to inform the Millses about Foremost’s intention not to pay overhead, profit, and taxes under the Policy. We will refer to the unpaid overhead, profit, and taxes collectively as the “Withheld Payments.”

The complaint alleges that Foremost (1) breached the terms of the Policy by failing to compensate the Millses for the Withheld Payments, and (2) unlawfully failed to inform them, before they purchased or renewed the Policy, of Foremost’s intention not to pay the Withheld Payments. 3 The complaint seeks damages and declaratory and injunctive relief, both for the Millses themselves and on behalf of a class. The complaint defines the class as all of Foremost’s mobile home insurance policyholders in Florida who, from August 1, 2004 onward, submitted to Foremost claims for hurricane damage to their mobile home or personal property caused by or arising from four hurricanes that struck Florida in August and September 2004 (Hurricanes Charlie, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne).

B. Foremost’s Rule 12(b)(6) Motion

Foremost removed the case to federal court and filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Neither party filed a motion regarding class certification under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. However, Foremost’s Rule 12(b)(6) motion argued that class action treatment was inappropriate because common legal or factual questions would not predominate over individual issues.

In a November 15, 2006 order, the district court granted Foremost’s 12(b)(6) motion. First, the district court held that the *1303 Millses lacked standing to bring their claims, either individually or as class representatives. It based this standing decision on its interpretation of the Policy. The court concluded that, to receive the Withheld Payments, the Millses must satisfy these preconditions in the Policy: (1) they must complete the repairs or replacement of the damaged property; (2) they must actually incur overhead, profit, and sales tax in connection with the repairs or replacement; and (3) they must make a further claim for any “additional costs” (including overhead, profit, and sales tax) incurred in repairing or replacing the damaged property. The district court concluded that (1) the Millses failed to allege that they had completed the repairs or replacement and made a claim for such repair or replacement costs, and (2) thus “they do not have standing to maintain individual claims, let alone class claims.” Mills v. Foremost Ins. Co., No. 8:06-CV-986-T-17, 2006 WL 3313945, at *2 (M.D.Fla. Nov. 15, 2006).

Second, the district court held that in any event the Millses’ claims were inappropriate for class action treatment because “the individual inquiry of the facts surrounding the property damage claims of thousands of Foremost policy holders under thousands of separate insurance policies would predominate and overwhelm any common issue.” Id. The district court dismissed the Millses’ complaint and closed the case. 4 This appeal followed.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

“We review de novo the district court’s grant of a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim, accepting the allegations in the complaint as true and construing them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.” Castro v. Sec’y of Homeland Sec., 472 F.3d 1334, 1336 (11th Cir.2006) (brackets omitted). “While a complaint attacked by a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss does not need detailed factual allegations, a plaintiffs obligation to provide the grounds of his entitlement to relief requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, — U.S. -, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 1964-65, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (quotation marks, citations, and brackets omitted). Furthermore, the plaintiffs factual allegations, when assumed to be true, “must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level ....” Id. at 1965.

A district court’s decisions regarding class action suitability are reviewed for abuse of discretion. De Leon-Granados v. Eller & Sons Trees, Inc., 497 F.3d 1214, 1218 (11th Cir.2007). “A district court abuses its discretion if it applies an incorrect legal standard, follows improper procedures in [reaching its decision], or makes findings of fact that are clearly erroneous.” Adams v. S. Farm Bureau Life Ins. Co., 493 F.3d 1276, 1285 (11th Cir.2007) (quotation marks and citation omitted).

III. DISCUSSION

On appeal, the Millses contend that the district court erred in interpreting the Policy and then, on that basis, dismissing their complaint for lack of standing and inability to maintain a class action. We first review Florida law governing insurance contracts and then examine the Poli *1304 cy provisions in issue. Finally, we consider the class action suitability issue.

A. Florida Law

Under Florida law, “[insurance contracts are construed according to their plain meaning.” State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Reis,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Anya Weatherly v. ABC Legal, Inc.
Eleventh Circuit, 2024
Kai Hansjurgens v. Donald H. Bailey
90 F.4th 1158 (Eleventh Circuit, 2024)
Andrez Marquez v. Amazon.com, Inc.
69 F.4th 1262 (Eleventh Circuit, 2023)
Bryan Turner v. Mike Williams
65 F.4th 564 (Eleventh Circuit, 2023)
Elson v. Black
56 F.4th 1002 (Fifth Circuit, 2023)
Bond v. United Equitable Insurance Group
2022 IL App (1st) 210732-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2022)
Williams-Young v. RCI, LLC
M.D. Florida, 2021
Michael Fox v. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC
977 F.3d 1039 (Eleventh Circuit, 2020)
King v. UA Local 91
N.D. Alabama, 2020
Foster v. Ledbetter
S.D. Florida, 2020
Jessica Singleton v. Elephant Insurance Com
953 F.3d 334 (Fifth Circuit, 2020)
Jones v. The Salvation Army
M.D. Florida, 2019
Douglas Echols v. Spencer Lawton
913 F.3d 1313 (Eleventh Circuit, 2019)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
511 F.3d 1300, 69 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1174, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 86, 2008 WL 45806, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mills-v-foremost-insurance-ca11-2008.