The Baltimore Life Insurance Company v. Torres

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedMay 4, 2022
Docket1:21-cv-01001
StatusUnknown

This text of The Baltimore Life Insurance Company v. Torres (The Baltimore Life Insurance Company v. Torres) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
The Baltimore Life Insurance Company v. Torres, (E.D. Cal. 2022).

Opinion

7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 THE BALTIMORE LIFE INSURANCE Case No. 1:21-cv-01001-DAD-SAB 11 COMPANY, ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S 12 Plaintiff, MOTION FOR RELIEF FROM NOVEMBER 22, 2021 ORDER RE: SERVICE BY 13 v. PUBLICATION AND REQUIRING PLAINTIFF TO FILE DISPOSITIONAL 14 EMILY P. TORRES, et al., DOCUMENTS

15 Defendants. (ECF Nos. 14, 21, 23, 24)

16 TWENTY-ONE DAY DEADLINE 17 I. 18 INTRODUCTION 19 Currently before the Court is Plaintiff’s motion for relief form the Court’s prior order 20 dated November 22, 2021, that granted Plaintiff’s motion to allow service on the unknown heirs, 21 devisees, successors in interest, and claimants of the estate of Joe Rodriguez Torres by 22 publication pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1655. (ECF No. 14.) The Court held a hearing on the 23 Plaintiff’s motion on April 13, 2022. (ECF No. 23.) In light of the proffer of a potential 24 indemnification agreement between the Defendants and Plaintiff, the Court continued the hearing 25 until May 4, 2022, and ordered supplemental briefing to be filed on the subject of the 26 indemnification agreement. (Id.) Upon review of the supplemental briefing, the Court found 27 this matter suitable for decision without oral argument and vacated the May 4, 2022 hearing. (ECF No. 25.) 1 Having considered the moving papers, the declaration and exhibits attached thereto, the 2 arguments presented at the April 13, 2022 hearing, the supplemental briefing filed on April 27, 3 2022, as well as the Court’s file, the Court shall grant Plaintiff’s motion for relief and order the 4 parties to submit dispositional documents within twenty-one (21) days. 5 II. 6 BACKGROUND 7 A. Procedural History 8 The Baltimore Life Insurance Company (“Plaintiff”) filed this interpleader action on June 9 24, 2021, naming Defendants Emily P. Torres, individually (“Mrs. Torres”) and as Trustee for 10 the Torres Revocable Living Trust (the “Trust” and “Mrs. Torres as Trustee”), Joe R. Torres, Jr. 11 (“Joe Jr.”), and Jerry R. Torres (“Jerry Torres”). (ECF No. 1.) On the same date, Plaintiff filed a 12 notice of interested parties. (ECF No. 2.) On July 1, 2021, Plaintiff returned executed summons 13 demonstrating these named Defendants had been served on June 28, 2021. (ECF Nos. 5, 6, 7.) 14 On September 21, 2021, in response to the Court’s order requiring a status report concerning the 15 action, Plaintiff filed a notice of action informing the Court of the intent to file a motion for 16 service by publication and amendment, and on September 22, 2021, the Court continued the 17 scheduling conference in this matter and ordered Plaintiff to file the motion for publication and 18 to amend within thirty days. (ECF Nos. 10, 11, 12.) On November 22, 2021, the Court granted 19 Plaintiff’s motion for leave to amend and to serve by publication. (ECF No. 14.) The Court 20 ordered that: “Plaintiff shall publish this order in a newspaper of general circulation in Kern 21 County and an additional newspaper of national circulation once a week for six consecutive 22 weeks, with the first publication to be made within fourteen (14) days of the date of entry of 23 this order.” (ECF No. 14 at 11 (emphasis in original).) 24 On November 22, 2021, Plaintiff filed a first amended complaint, that names the 25 unknown heirs, devisees, successors in interest, and claimants of the estate of Joe Rodriguez 26 Torres (the “Decedent” or “Mr. Torres”). (ECF No. 15.) 27 On February 24, 2022, ahead of the March 3, 2022 scheduling conference, Plaintiff filed 1 published the November 22, 2021 order in a regional newspaper for the required time period, the 2 prices quoted for publishing the Court’s 11-page order in national papers were prohibitively 3 expensive. Plaintiff stated it was preparing a motion for relief from the prior order, and 4 requested the scheduling conference be continued to the hearing date for the forthcoming motion, 5 which Plaintiff anticipated filing within one week. (Id.)1 6 On March 8, 2022, Plaintiff filed the motion for relief that is currently before the Court. 7 (ECF No. 21.) The Court held a hearing on the Plaintiff’s motion on April 13, 2022, at which 8 counsel David Grimes appeared on behalf of Plaintiff. (ECF No. 23.) No appearances were 9 made on behalf of the Defendants. The Court continued the hearing until May 4, 2022, and 10 ordered supplemental briefing to be filed on the subject of the indemnification agreement. (Id.) 11 On April 27, 2022, Plaintiff filed a supplemental brief. (ECF No. 24.) Along with the Plaintiff’s 12 supplemental brief is an attached declaration of counsel Robert H. Brumfield, attorney for 13 Defendants, and Stephen Kaufman, attorney for Plaintiff. (Decl. Robert H. Brumfield, III 14 (“Brumfield Decl.”), ECF No. 24-1; Decl. Stephen H. Kaufman (“Kaufman Decl.”), ECF No. 15 24-2.) 16 B. Factual Background Concerning Motion for Relief from Publication Order 17 The Court previously summarized the factual background underlying the previously 18 adjudicated motion for publication, and incorporates that information by way of reference. (See 19 ECF No. 14 at 2-4.) 20 Following the Court’s November 22, 2021 order granting service by publication, 21 Plaintiff’s counsel requested quotes for publication costs from the Bakersfield Californian 22 (circulated locally in Kern County) and USA Today (circulated nationally). (Decl. Caleb H. 23 Liang (“Liang Decl.”) ¶ 3, ECF No. 21-2.) On December 1, 2021, Plaintiff’s counsel received a 24

25 1 The Court noted it was unclear why Plaintiff waited until the late hour to inform the Court of the inability to comply with the Court’s previous order granting service by publication, and that the prudent action would have been to immediately seek clarification or amendment of the previous order to either allow for publication of only a 26 section of the order, to propose another truncated form referencing the case and providing necessary information to include in the publication, or other action. (ECF No. 18.) The Court stated it would take no position on the 27 forthcoming motion for relief and continued the scheduling conference for a period of approximately 120 days, and declined to set the scheduling conference on the same date as the hearing on the motion for relief, as there were no 1 quote of $740.00 to publish the Court’s Order once a week for six weeks in the Bakersfield 2 Californian. (Id. at ¶ 4.) Plaintiff’s counsel confirmed publication on December 2, and the first 3 publication was made on December 6. (Id. at ¶ 5.) Plaintiff’s counsel did not receive a quote for 4 publication from USA Today until December 8, at which point USA Today quoted Plaintiff 5 $201,000.00 to publish the Court’s Order once a week for six weeks. (Id. at ¶ 6.) 6 Concerned by the excessive cost to publish the Court’s order in USA Today, Plaintiff’s 7 counsel began investigating alternative national publications. Plaintiff’s counsel requested 8 quotes from the NY Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post. (Id. at ¶ 7.) The 9 NY Times quoted Plaintiff $60,637.50 per publication ($363,825.00 total). (Id. ¶ 8.) The Los 10 Angeles Times quoted $192,780.00. (Id. at ¶ 9.) The Washington Post quoted $24,362.76. (Id. 11 at ¶ 10.) 12 As discussed further below in relation to the information contained in the supplemental 13 briefing, counsel for Plaintiff and Defendants subsequently discussed an agreement for 14 Defendants to indemnify Plaintiff against future claims from presently unknown claimants, in the 15 interests of avoiding further costs of publication, to disperse the life insurance funds, and to 16 dismiss this case. 17 III.

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