Reinkemeyer v. Safeco Insurance Co. of America

166 F.3d 982, 99 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 793, 99 Daily Journal DAR 947, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 1109
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 28, 1999
DocketNo. 96-17096
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 166 F.3d 982 (Reinkemeyer v. Safeco Insurance Co. of America) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reinkemeyer v. Safeco Insurance Co. of America, 166 F.3d 982, 99 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 793, 99 Daily Journal DAR 947, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 1109 (9th Cir. 1999).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

The principal question on this appeal is whether a homeowner insurance policy was covered by the provisions of Nevada Revised Statutes (“NRS”) §§ 687B.310-420. We certified the statutory construction question to the Supreme Court of Nevada as one pecu[983]*983liarly within the expertise of that court. Based upon the decision of the Nevada Court, we reverse and remand this diversity case to the district court.

I. Factual and Legal Background

The facts in the case are not in dispute. The Reinkemeyers were insured by SAFE-CO Insurance Company under a homeowner’s insurance policy. Between 1989 and 1993, the Reinkemeyers submitted three claims under the policy totaling approximately $212,400. In 1994, SAFECO notified the Reinkemeyers that it was declining to renew the policy.

The Reinkemeyers sued SAFECO claiming that the non-renewal violated various provisions of NRS §§ 687B.310-420 that govern the cancellation and renewal of certain insurance policies. For example, they asserted that the version of § 385 in effect at the time denied insurers any right to “cancel, refuse to renew or increase the premium for renewal of a policy of casualty or property insurance as a result of any claims made under the policy with respect to which the insured was not at fault.”1 SAFECO agrees that the losses were not the fault of the Reinkemeyers.

Section 310 limits the applicability of §§ 310-420 to insurance contracts “the general terms of which are required to be approved or are subject to disapproval by the commissioner” of insurance. Relying on this language, SAFECO argues that an insurance policy is subject to §§ 310-420 only if the legislature specifically grants the Commissioner the authority to approve or disapprove the policy. While the legislature has made certain insurance policies explicitly subject to approval by the Commissioner of Insurance,2 no provision of Nevada law specifically grants the Commissioner authority over homeowner’s policies.

The Reinkemeyers and amicus curiae (the State of Nevada Division of Insurance and Commissioner of Insurance) argue that homeowner’s insurance policies, along with almost every other insurance policy used in the state, are subject to regulation under the Commissioner’s general regulatory powers. Thus, the Reinkemeyers and the State of Nevada claim that almost all insurance policies used in Nevada are subject to §§ 310-420.

Adopting the magistrate’s report and recommendation, the district court agreed with SAFECO, holding that because no provision of Nevada law affirmatively requires homeowner’s insurance contracts to be approved by the Commissioner homeowner’s insurance policies do not meet the requirements of §. 310. The district court granted summary judgment to SAFECO on this basis.

II. Certification to the Nevada Supreme Court

Pursuant to Nevada Rule of Appellate Procedure 5, we certified the following question to the Nevada Supreme Court:

Is a homeowner’s insurance policy, like the one at issue in this case, a contract of insurance the general terms of which are required to be approved or are subject to disapproval by the Commissioner of Insurance, as provided by NRS 687B.310?

In an unpublished “Order Answering Certified Question”, the Supreme Court of Nevada has answered this question in the affirmative.3 The Nevada Supreme Court holds that since homeowner’s policies are forms of casualty or property insurance, they are made subject to chapter 687B by § 690B.010 and § 691A.010.4 Furthermore, the court states that homeowner’s policies are subject [984]*984to disapproval by the Commissioner of Insurance under § 679B.225 which provides that “[t]he commissioner, at any time, may inspect any insurance policy covering any risk in this state.” Finally, the court holds that except for insurance policies that include “home protection insurance” as defined in § 690B.100, no other statute or rule of the Commissioner exempts homeowner’s policies from §§ 687B .310-420. The Nevada Supreme Court thus concludes that homeowner’s insurance policies are generally subject to the terms of §8 310-420.

In its supplemental brief addressing the Nevada Supreme Court’s answer, SAFE-CO asks this court to disregard the answer. We are bound by the answers of state supreme courts to certified questions just as we are bound by state supreme court interpretations of state law in other contexts. See Grover v. Eli Lilly and Co., 33 F.3d 716, 719 (6th Cir.1994) (“Permission to certify questions of state law has been graciously extended by the highest courts of [ ] the states.... A federal court that certifies a question of state law should not be free to treat the answer as merely advisory unless the state court specifically contemplates that result.”). See also Sifers v. General Marine Catering Co., 892 F.2d 386, 391-92 (5th Cir.1990) (state court’s answer becomes “the law of this circuit. For that reason it is binding as well upon those parties in this appeal who were not parties to the certified case.”); Redgrave v. Boston Symphony Orchestra, 855 F.2d 888, 903 (1st Cir.1988) (even dicta in state court answer should be carefully considered by certifying court); Wright, Miller & Cooper, Fed. Prac. & Pro.: Jurisdiction 2d § 4248 at n. 67 (1988 & 1998 Supp.) (state court answer is binding upon certifying court).

SAFECO has not cited and we have not found any decision where a federal court has disregarded, on any grounds, a state court’s answer to a certified question. Nor does SAFECO advance one of the few established grounds for disregarding state court interpretations of state law in other contexts such as where state court decisions violate federal law or are an “obvious subterfuge to evade consideration, of a federal issue.” Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U.S. 684, 691 n. 11, 95 S.Ct. 1881, 1886 n. 11, 44 L.Ed.2d 508 (1975) (collecting cases).

Instead SAFECO first attacks the Nevada Supreme Court’s answer on the grounds that the court decided the question without the benefit of the record before this court or the district court. SAFECO cites Shebester v. Triple Crown Insurers, 974 F.2d 135 (10th Cir.1992), where the court held that a passing comment by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in an answer to a certified question was not binding on the federal courts since “this question was not certified ... and it is unclear whether the Oklahoma court had an adequate record to make this determination.” Id. at 139 n. 3. Shebester, however, is clearly inapposite. The passing comment in Shebester was not responsive to the certified question; here, SAFECO asks us to disregard the state court’s three-page direct response to our certified question. Moreover, even if an inadequate record can be a basis upon which to disregard an answer, the Nevada court answered an abstract question of Nevada law whose answer was independent of the specific factual situation, unlike the question at issue in

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166 F.3d 982, 99 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 793, 99 Daily Journal DAR 947, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 1109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reinkemeyer-v-safeco-insurance-co-of-america-ca9-1999.