Peoples v. American Fidelity Life Insurance

176 F.R.D. 637, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 148, 1998 WL 6539
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Florida
DecidedJanuary 6, 1998
DocketNo. 3:97CV101/MD
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 176 F.R.D. 637 (Peoples v. American Fidelity Life Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peoples v. American Fidelity Life Insurance, 176 F.R.D. 637, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 148, 1998 WL 6539 (N.D. Fla. 1998).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION

DAVIS, United States Magistrate Judge.

Before the court are plaintiffs’ motion and amended motion for class certification (docs. 71, 76). The parties have consented to the undersigned magistrate judge exercising jurisdiction over this action pursuant to Title 28 U.S.C. § 636(c). Jurisdiction is in this court by reason of the diversity of citizenship of the parties, Title 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332 and 1367, as well as 18 U.S.C. § 1961 et seq., the Racketeer influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO). For the reasons discussed below, the motion is DENIED.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs, Ohio residents, filed an eight count complaint against these defendants claiming RICO violations and state law causes of action. Defendants are two life [639]*639insurance companies domiciled in Florida and California, respectively, which are allegedly related through common ownership or control; a bank domiciled in Florida and owned or controlled by the same group; and an individual insurance agent of the companies who lives in Nevada.

Plaintiffs allege generally that agent Cuddy and the two insurance companies wrongfully conspired to create an insurance product — the Flexible Dollar Builder — and to sell it to a target market of primarily, but not exclusively, government employees. Cuddy and agents trained by him, with the knowledge and participation of the companies, created a sales pitch to be uniformly presented, and which contained fraudulent misrepresentations. Some of the misrepresentations were that the product being offered was a retirement plan, that it guaranteed an eleven percent return on money invested, that the owner of the plan could borrow against the plan for educational purposes, that the plan was produced and underwritten by government-related organizations, that the selling agents were representatives of those organizations, that the plan was endorsed by various unions of government workers, and that the plan, including the educational loan feature, was available only through the defendant companies.

In truth, say plaintiffs, defendants were selling nothing more than life insurance. The purported savings feature was simply a cash value rider on a whole life policy, and the educational loan feature was nothing more than a referral to the federal government’s guaranteed student loan program, available to anyone. Moreover, there was no actual guaranteed return of eleven percent or anything near that percentage, the purported government-related organizations involved with the product were fictitious, and there were no union endorsements. Plaintiffs further say that the marketing scheme for this entire fraudulent program was based on a word-for-word sales presentation created by Cuddy and the companies, and that in fact policies were sold to thousands of innocent people in exactly the fraudulent manner Cuddy prescribed. The racketeering alleged by plaintiffs included mail fraud, wire fraud, obstruction of justice and engaging in interstate travel in aid of the racketeering enterprises. Plaintiffs joined the bank as a defendant by alleging that all purchasers of the product were required to pay premiums through government allotments payable only to the bank, thereby further benefitting the common owners.

The two individual plaintiffs allege in their complaint that they were sold life insurance policies in Ohio in exactly the manner described above. They now purport to represent all persons similarly situated and seek certification of a class.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Defendants earlier moved to dismiss plaintiffs RICO count, claiming that the McCarran-Ferguson Act, Title 15 U.S.C. § 1012, divests federal courts of jurisdiction over claims of this nature by proscribing the application of federal statutes of general applicability to the regulation of insurance companies. Defendants further moved to dismiss the state claims, which would fail if this court had no jurisdiction under RICO. The motion was denied by order dated June 2, 1997. Defendants’ motion to strike plaintiffs’ claim for punitive damages was granted without prejudice.

Plaintiffs’ amended motion for class certification was filed on May 1, 1997. Ruling on the motion was deferred pending the handling .of various discovery disputes, all of which are now resolved. The parties have filed their respective memoranda and have provided the court with documentary evidence and deposition transcripts in support of their respective positions on the motion. Also pending are motions for summary judgment filed by defendants. Ruling on these motions has been deferred pending resolution of the present motion. Plaintiffs will now be required to respond to the motions for summary judgment in accordance with the local rules of this court.

DISCUSSION

A. CLASS ACTION REQUIREMENTS

“The policy at the very core of the class action mechanism is to overcome the [640]*640problem that small recoveries do not provide the incentive for any individual to bring a solo action prosecuting his or her rights. A class action solves this problem by aggregating the relatively paltry potential recoveries into something worth someone’s (usually an attorney’s) labor.” Amchem Products, Inc. v. Windsor, — U.S. -, -, 117 S.Ct. 2231, 2246, 138 L.Ed.2d 689 (1997), quoting Mace v. Van Ru Credit Corp., 109 F.3d 338 (7th Cir.1997). District courts have broad discretion in determining whether to certify a class. Determining whether a class action is manageable and thereby a superior method of fair and efficient adjudication is committed to the discretion of the district court because of its greater familiarity and expertise with the practical problems of administering a lawsuit. Andrews v. American Tel. & Tel. Co., 95 F.3d 1014, 1022 (11th Cir.1996). “A district court’s class certification order will not be reversed unless the court abused its discretion or applied impermissible legal criteria or standards.” Crum v. Housing Auth. of Tampa, Fla., 841 F.2d 376, 378 (11th Cir.1988) (citations omitted).

In this case, plaintiffs seek class certification pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, which has two distinct sets of requirements for such certification. First, Rule 23(a) requires plaintiffs to show that

(1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable, (2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class, (3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class, and (4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class.

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Bluebook (online)
176 F.R.D. 637, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 148, 1998 WL 6539, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peoples-v-american-fidelity-life-insurance-flnd-1998.