Quin E Briscoe v. Transamerica Premier Life Insurance Company

Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit·Decided April 30, 2026·No. 24-14205·Unpublished

Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

In the

United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

No. 24-14205

QUIN E. BRISCOE, Plaintiff-Appellee,

versus

TRANSAMERICA PREMIER LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, an Iowa Corporation, successor by merger to Peoples Benefit Life Insurance Company, an Iowa corporation,

Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 9:23-cv-81577-RMM

Before JILL PRYOR, LUCK, and BRASHER, Circuit Judges. BRASHER, Circuit Judge:

2 Opinion of the Court 24-14205

This appeal is about an annuity contract. Quin Briscoe purchased an annuity that gave her control over several variables affecting the investment’s outcome. First, she could terminate the annuity contract and receive a lump sum payment. Second, she could delay her annuity date and postpone receipt of annuity payments . Or third, she could allow the annuity to annuitize and collect annuity payments in accordance with one of five Annuity Payment Options. The contract set the default “Annuity Date” as December 1, 2022—the first day of the month following her 65th birthday—but it did not specify a default annuity payment option. And Briscoe never selected one. Nevertheless, in December 2022, Transamerica annuitized Briscoe’s annuity and began disbursing annuity payments in accordance with one of the annuity payment options. Briscoe tried to undo the annuitization, but Transamerica refused. Briscoe sued.

The district court determined that Transamerica’s unilateral annuitization of Briscoe’s annuity was invalid because Briscoe never selected an annuity payment option. We agree and affirm.

I.

In 1996, Frank and Quin Briscoe each purchased $50,000 Vanguard annuities. But unlike most purchasers of annuities, the Briscoes never intended to allow theirs to annuitize. Instead, they purchased the annuities to take advantage of tax benefits associated with annuity accounts, and they planned to fully liquidate them

24-14205 Opinion of the Court 3

upon retirement, prior to annuitization. The Briscoes later contributed an additional $150,000 to each annuity, bringing each annuity ’s total basis to $200,000.

In 2020, Vanguard transferred the Briscoes’ annuities’ servicing responsibilities to Transamerica. In 2021, upon reaching his 65th birthday, Mr. Briscoe liquidated his annuity before it annuitized . But in 2022, upon reaching her 65th birthday, Mrs. Briscoe took no action. Shortly thereafter, Transamerica annuitized Mrs. Briscoe’s contract and began disbursing annuity payments.

Mrs. Briscoe contacted Transamerica multiple times, insisting that they improperly annuitized her annuity and requesting that it be reversed. In response, Transamerica stated that her “failure to select a payout option resulted in default annuitization consistent with the policy language.” Doc. 122-12 at 1. Transamerica refused to reverse the annuitization.

A. Briscoe’s Annuity Contract

Several of the annuity contract’s terms are relevant to this appeal, including its integration clause, “Annuity Date” definition, “Annuity Payment Option” selection scheme, withdrawal provision , and amendment language.

First, the contract contains an integration clause that integrates the contract itself, along with the written annuity application and attached provisions, as follows:

4 Opinion of the Court 24-14205

Entire Contract. The Contract, together with the written application and any attached provisions, constitutes the entire contract between the Owner and the Company. No agent may change this Contract or waive any of its provisions. No change in the Contract is valid unless approved by an executive officer of the Company and evidenced by endorsement hereon, or by an amendment hereto signed by such officer.

Doc. 119-1 at 14. The annuity application, in turn, incorporates the annuity prospectus for a single, limited purpose—to establish the conditions for “Telephone Exchange Authorization” (i.e., the rules establishing how the Annuity Owner can give trading instructions over the telephone). Accordingly, the fully integrated annuity contract consists of the contract itself, the annuity application, and the prospectus’s “Telephone Exchange Authorization” instructions; it does not incorporate the prospectus.

Second, the annuity contract contemplates that Briscoe’s invested funds would grow over time and then annuitize at some point in the future. The contract specifies that the “Annuity Date” is December 1, 2022, which it later also identifies as the “Normal Annuity Date.” Further, it separately defines “Annuity Date” as “[t]he date on which Annuity Payments begin.” Id. at 5. However, the contract also permits Briscoe to advance or defer the Annuity Date, as follows:

Advanced or Deferred Annuity Date: The Owner may choose to advance or defer the Annuity Date. This request must be made in writing at least 30 days

24-14205 Opinion of the Court 5

prior to the requested Annuity Date, and may only be made during the Annuitant’s lifetime. In no event may the Annuity Date be deferred to a date later than the first day of the month following the Annuitant’s 85th birthday.

Id. at 10.

Third, the annuity contract states that, upon reaching the Annuity Date, Briscoe will receive “Annuity Payments,” which are “made monthly.” Id. at 5, 10. There is no default annuity option. Instead, the contract gives Briscoe the sole authority to “elect” from among five “Annuity Payment Options” to receive her Annuity Payments. Id. at 5, 13. Each of the five Annuity Payment Options carries a different set of risks and benefits, as follows:

1. Life Annuity – Monthly Annuity Payments are paid for the life of an Annuitant, ceasing with the last payment due prior to his death.

2. Life Annuity with 120, 180, or 240 Monthly Payments Certain – Monthly Annuity Payments are paid for the life of the Annuitant for 120, 180, or 240 months as elected.

3. Installment or Unit Refund Life Annuity – Monthly Annuity Payments are paid for the life of an Annuitant , with a Period Certain determined by dividing the Accumulated Value by the first Annuity Payment.

6 Opinion of the Court 24-14205

4. Joint and Last Survivor Annuity – Monthly Annuity Payments for the life of two Annuitants and thereafter for the life of the Survivor, ceasing with the last payment due prior to the Survivor’s death.

5. Designated Period Annuity – Monthly Annuity Payments are paid for a Period Certain, as elected, which may be from 10 to 30 years.

Id. at 13. Because each of the Annuity Payment Options differs in how it calculates Annuity Payments, it is impossible to calculate the value of each payment before the Annuity Owner selects an Annuity Payment Option.

Even though the contract does not specify the default Annuity Payment Option, the 1996 Annuity Prospectus does. Specifically , the prospectus states that “[i]n the event that an Annuity Payment Option is not selected, the Company will make monthly Annuity Payments that will go on for as long as the Annuitant lives (120 payments guaranteed),” which corresponds with the contract ’s payment option number two. Doc. 47-4 at 39. But because the Annuity Contract does not integrate the 1996 prospectus (aside from the “Telephone Exchange Authorization” instructions discussed above), the prospectus’s default annuity date is not integrated into the contract.

Fourth, the contract provides that Briscoe may make “[p]artial or full withdrawals . . . at any time before the Annuity Date” and that those withdrawals may be made “in a lump sum” or “paid out under an Annuity Payment Option.” Doc. 119-1 at 9. It further

24-14205 Opinion of the Court 7

specifies that, in the event of Briscoe’s death prior to the Annuity Date, Transamerica will pay out the greater of the annuity’s accumulated value as of the date of her death or the sum of all premium payments, minus applicable adjustments and taxes.

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Quin E Briscoe v. Transamerica Premier Life Insurance Company, (11th Cir. 2026).

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