Taxicab Insurance Store, LLC v. American Service Insurance Co.

224 So. 3d 451, 2017 La.App. 4 Cir. 0004, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 1318, 2017 WL 2963017
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 12, 2017
DocketNO. 2017-CA-0004
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 224 So. 3d 451 (Taxicab Insurance Store, LLC v. American Service Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Taxicab Insurance Store, LLC v. American Service Insurance Co., 224 So. 3d 451, 2017 La.App. 4 Cir. 0004, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 1318, 2017 WL 2963017 (La. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

JAMES F. MCKAY III, CHIEF JUDGE

| plaintiff, Taxicab Insurance Store, LLC (“TIS”)) seeks appellate review of the trial court’s September 20, 2016 judgment, granting the exceptions of nti cause of action and no right of action filed by American Service Insurance Company, Inc. (“ASIC”), Michael J. Harrington (“Harrington”), Charlotte Louise LeBlanc (“LeBlanc”), and Regions Insurance Inc. (“Regions”) (collectively referred to as “the defendants”), dismissing TIS’s action in its entirety, with prejudice. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

STATEMENT OF FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In 2011, TIS began operating as a producer for Imperial Fire and Casualty Insurance Company (“Imperial”), providing commercial automobile insurance policies to taxicab drivers in Louisiana. Thereafter, ASIC also began issuing insurance policies to taxicab drivers in the greater New Orleans area. Regions, Harrington, and Le-Blanc acted as producers for ASIC.

12TIS filed a petition for damages and a supplemental/amending petition against the defendants.1 Therein, TIS claims that the defendants were working together to solicit business from TIS’s customers by offering illegal insurance' policies at unapproved premium rates. The petition maintains that the defendants specifically marketed the illegal policies to TIS’s customers, representing that ASIC could offer lower rates and better coverage. TIS asserts that the defendants weré aware that the rates were not approved by the Insurance Commissioner, and that certain unapproved discounts and products were being offered to the taxicab insureds in violation of the law.2 TIS further alleges a significant loss of business as a result of the defendants’ actions.

The petition for damages, as amended, asserts the following eight counts, or causes of action, against the defendants: 1) tort; 2) fraud; 3) tortious interference with a contract; 4) tortious interference with a business relationship; 5) violations of the Louisiana Unfair Trade Practices Act (“LUTPA”), La. R.S. 51:1401, et seq.; 6) violations of the Louisiana Anti-Trust Act, La. R.S. 51:122 and 123; 7) unjust [456]*456enrichment; and alternatively, 8) declaratory relief, asserting that La. R.S. 51:1406(1) is unconstitutional.

In response to TIS’s supplemental and amending petition, the defendants filed exceptions of no cause of action and no right of action, arguing, generally, |athat the alleged violations of the Insurance Code cannot support a private cause of action for damages because the Insurance Commissioner has exclusive jurisdiction to enforce the Insurance Code. More specifically, the defendants argued in support of the exceptions that: 1) TIS does not have a claim for tort, fraud, or unjust enrichment because it does not allege that the defendants made any representations or had any duty to TIS; 2) TIS does not have a tortious interference with a contract claim because there was no contract between TIS and the defendants; 3) TIS does not have a tortious interference with a business relationship claim because the petition fails to allege facts to show malice or ill-will or that the defendants prevented any party from dealing with TIS; 4) TIS does not have a LUTPA claim because such claims are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Louisiana Insurance Commissioner; and 5) TIS does not have an anti-trust claim because it does not allege the existence of a horizontal or vertical agreement and does not allege facts that would support a monopoly claim.

The matter was heard on September 9, 2016. In a judgment dated September 20, 2016, the trial court granted the defendants’ exceptions of no cause of action and no right of action and dismissed the action in its entirety, with prejudice.3 TIS timely appealed.

On appeal, TIS sets forth eight assignments of error, asserting that the trial court erred in granting the exceptions, and in finding that TIS failed to set forth a Lcause and/or right of action against the defendants for: 1) tort, 2) fraud; 3) tor-tious interference with a contract; 4) tor-tious interference with a business relationship; 5) unfair trade practices; 6) antitrust violations; 7) unjust enrichment; and 8) declaratory relief concerning the constitutionality of La. R.S. 51:1406(1). For the reasons set forth below, we find no merit in these assignments of error.

LAW AND ANALYSIS

Standard of Review

In Zeigler v. Housing Authority of New Orleans, 2015-0626, pp. 4-5 (La. App. 4 Cir. 3/23/16), 192 So.3d 175, 178, this Court reiterated the standard of review regarding exceptions of no cause of action and no right of action, as follows:

“Exceptions of no cause of action present legal questions, and are reviewed under the de novo standard of review.” Phillips v. Gibbs, 2010-0175, p. 3 (La. App. 4 Cir. 5/21/10), 39 So.3d 795, 797. This exception is designed to test the legal sufficiency of a petition by determining whether a party is afforded a remedy in law based on the facts alleged in the pleading. Id., 2010-0175 at p. 3, 39 So.3d at 797-98. “All well-pleaded allegations of fact are accepted as true and correct, and all doubts .are resolved in favor of sufficiency of the petition so as to afford litigants their day in court.” Foti v. Holliday, 2009-0093, p. 5 (La. 10/30/09), 27 So.3d 813, 817. “The burden of demonstrating that a petition fails to state a cause of action is upon the mover.” Id., citing Ramey v. De[457]*457Caire, 2003-1299, p. 7 (La. 3/19/04), 869 So.2d 114, 119.
Likewise, “[pjeremptory exceptions raising the objection of no right of action are reviewed de novo on appeal as they involve questions of iaw.” Fortier v. Hughes, 2009-0180, p. 2 (La. App. 4 Cir. 6/17/09), 15 So.3d 1185, 1186. “The exception of no right of action tests whether the plaintiff has a real and actual interest in the action.” Weber v. Metro. Cmty. Hospice Found., Inc., 2013-0182, p. 4 (La. App. 4 Cir. 12/18/13), 131 So.3d 371, 374, citing La. C.C.P. art. 927(5). The function of the exception is to determine whether the plaintiff belongs to the class of persons to whom the law grants the cause of action asserted in the lawsuit. Louisiana Paddlewheels v. Louisiana Riverboat Gaming Com’n, 94-2015, p. 4 (La. 11/30/94), 646 So.2d 885, 888. “The exception of no right of action assumes that the petition states a valid cause of action for some person and questions whether the plaintiff in the particular case is a member of the class that has a legal interest in the subject matter of the litigation.” Indus. Companies, Inc. v. Durbin, 2002-0665, p. 12 (La. 1/28/03), 837 So.2d 1207, 1216.

Cause of Action!Count 1 (Tort)

TIS alleges that the defendants owed a duty to compete fairly and honestly and to comply with the rules prescribed by the Louisiana Insurance Code. La. R.S. 22:12 provides that “[n]o person shall be authorized to transact or shall transact a business of insurance in this state without complying with the provisions of this Code.” The petition alleges that the defendants breached their duty to comply with the state’s insurance regulations, claiming that the defendants, in issuing unlawful insurance contracts, intentionally violated the Insurance Code in order to commandeer business away from TIS.

The Insurance Commissioner . is charged with the enforcement of the Insurance Code. See La. R.S. 22:11.

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

Related

Musa v. Musa
267 So. 3d 1190 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2019)
Bradix v. Advance Stores Co.
226 So. 3d 523 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
224 So. 3d 451, 2017 La.App. 4 Cir. 0004, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 1318, 2017 WL 2963017, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taxicab-insurance-store-llc-v-american-service-insurance-co-lactapp-2017.