Orgill/Singer & Associates, Inc. v. Federal Insurance

943 F. Supp. 2d 1141, 2013 WL 1907885, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65572
CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedMay 7, 2013
DocketNo. 2:12-cv-00113-RCJ-CWH
StatusPublished

This text of 943 F. Supp. 2d 1141 (Orgill/Singer & Associates, Inc. v. Federal Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Orgill/Singer & Associates, Inc. v. Federal Insurance, 943 F. Supp. 2d 1141, 2013 WL 1907885, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65572 (D. Nev. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER

ROBERT C. JONES, District Judge.

This case arises out of an insurer’s refusal to pay benefits under an executive protection policy. Before the Court is Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 30). For the reasons given herein, the Court denies the motion.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Plaintiff Orgill/Singer & Associates, Inc. (“Orgill”) used non-party Lakes Payroll, Inc. (“Lakes”) to process its payroll from 2001 until 2011. (First Am. Compl. ¶¶ 2, II, Aug. 28, 2012, ECF No. 19-1). From 2009 to 2011, non-party Deborah DiFrancesco (the sole proprietor, officer, and director of Lakes) perpetrated a fraudulent scheme to embezzle Orgill’s Money by forging and altering Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (“EFTPS”) transfers to the IRS, i.e., by altering computer-generated EFTPS transfers to reduce or eliminate the actual payments to the IRS and embezzling the difference from Orgill. (Id. ¶¶ 12-14). DiFrancesco embezzled over $650,000 in this manner, and Lakes reimbursed Orgill for only $200,000, resulting in a loss to Orgill of over $450,000. (Id. ¶ 15).

Orgill was insured under a $1 million Executive Protection Policy No. 8185-5233 (the “Policy”) with Defendant Federal In[1142]*1142surance Co. (“Federal”) from May 20, 2011 to May 20, 2012. (Id. ¶¶ 1, 16, 35): The fourth of five insuring agreements in the Policy states:

[Federal] shall be liable for direct losses caused by forgery or alteration of, on or in any check, draft, promissory note, bill of exchange, or similar written promise, order or direction to pay a certain amount of money, made or drawn by, or drawn upon [Orgill], or made or drawn by one acting as agent of [Orgill], or purporting to have been made or drawn as set forth above....

(Id. ¶ 17). The Policy contains eleven general exclusions applying to each of the five insuring agreements. (Id. ¶ 19). Orgill argues that none of the general exclusions apply to its claim based upon Lakes’s embezzlement. (See id.). The two additional exclusions applicable to the fourth insuring agreement for “Depositor’s Forgery” are as follows:

(A) Any instrument, if such forgery or alteration is committed by any: Employee or by any person in collusion with any Employee; or
(B) Any registered or coupon obligations issued or purported to have been issued by [Orgill] or any coupons attached thereto or detached therefrom.

(Id.). Contrary to the exclusions in the Policy applicable to each of the other four insuring agreements therein, the exclusions to the Depositor’s Forgery insuring agreement do not apply to acts by Orgill’s “authorized representative.” (Id. ¶ 20). Rather, the Depositor’s Forgery insuring agreement specifically covers acts by those acting or purporting to act as Orgill’s agent. (Id.).

Orgill tendered its demand to Federal based upon the Lakes embezzlement on August 9, 2011. (M ¶ 22). Federal “denied coverage” in a September 16, 2011 letter because the loss did not involve an employee. (Id. ¶23). However, Federal accepted Lakes’s own claim under Lakes’s own similar policy with Federal based upon the $200,000 Lakes reimbursed to Orgill, (see id. ¶ 15), to ameliorate the losses DiFrancesco had caused to Orgill, (see id. ¶ 32).

The last few paragraphs of the First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) present a complex theory of bad faith. (See id. ¶¶ 29-37). Orgill appears to argue that Federal is guilty of bad faith with respect to Orgill, because Federal denied Orgill’s claims under the Policy while at the same time honoring Lakes’s claim under its own policy based upon DiFrancesco’s embezzlement of Orgill’s money on behalf of Lakes, which Federal knew was a sole proprietorship of DiFrancesco herself. (See id.).

Orgill sued Federal in this Court. The FAC lists two causes of action: (1) breach of contract; and (2) insurance bad faith. Defendant has moved for summary judgment.

II. LEGAL STANDARDS

A court must grant summary judgment when “the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). Material facts are those which may affect the outcome of the case. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). A dispute as to a material fact is genuine if there is sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to return a verdict for the non-moving party. See id. A principal purpose of summary judgment is “to isolate and dispose of factually unsupported claims.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323-24, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). In determining summary judgment, a court uses a burden-shifting scheme:

[1143]*1143When the party moving for summary judgment would bear the burden of proof at trial, it must come forward with evidence which would entitle it to a directed verdict if the evidence went uncontroverted at trial. In such a case, the moving party has the initial burden of establishing the absence of a genuine issue of fact on each issue material to its case.

C.A.R. Transp. Brokerage Co. v. Darden Rests., Inc., 213 F.3d 474, 480 (9th Cir.2000) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). In contrast, when the nonmoving party bears the burden of proving the claim or defense, the moving party can meet its burden in two ways: (1) by presenting evidence to negate an essential element of the nonmoving party’s case; or (2) by demonstrating that the nonmoving party failed to make a showing sufficient to establish an element essential to that party’s case on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial. See Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 323-24, 106 S.Ct. 2548. If the moving party fails to meet its initial burden, summary judgment must be denied and the court need not consider the nonmoving party’s evidence. See Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 159-60, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970).

If the moving party meets its initial burden, the burden then shifts to the opposing party to establish a genuine issue of material fact. See Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). To establish the existence of a factual dispute, the opposing party need not establish a material issue of fact conclusively in its favor. It is sufficient that “the claimed factual dispute be shown to require a jury or judge to resolve the parties’ differing versions of the truth at trial.” T.W. Elec. Serv., Inc. v. Pac. Elec. Contractors Ass’n, 809 F.2d 626, 631 (9th Cir.1987). In other words, the nonmoving party cannot avoid summary judgment by relying solely on conclusory allegations unsupported by facts. See Taylor v. List, 880 F.2d 1040, 1045 (9th Cir.1989).

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Related

Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co.
398 U.S. 144 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
477 U.S. 242 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Taylor v. List
880 F.2d 1040 (Ninth Circuit, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
943 F. Supp. 2d 1141, 2013 WL 1907885, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65572, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/orgillsinger-associates-inc-v-federal-insurance-nvd-2013.