Universal Underwriters Service Corp. v. Melson

953 F. Supp. 385, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20288, 1996 WL 779966
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Alabama
DecidedOctober 24, 1996
DocketCivil Action No. 96-T-1309-N
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 953 F. Supp. 385 (Universal Underwriters Service Corp. v. Melson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Universal Underwriters Service Corp. v. Melson, 953 F. Supp. 385, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20288, 1996 WL 779966 (M.D. Ala. 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

MYRON H. THOMPSON, Chief Judge.

Relying on the Declaratory Judgment Act of 1984, 28 U.S.CA. § 2201(a), plaintiff Universal Underwriters Service Corporation seeks a declaration that it is not liable in fraud, negligence, or wantonness under state law, in the sale of a “vehicle service contract” to defendant Larry Melson. Universal Underwriters has invoked the court’s diversity-of-citizenship jurisdiction. 28 U.S.C.A. § 1382. Universal Underwriters is a citizen of Missouri and Kansas, and Melson is a citizen of Alabama. Now before the court is a motion to dismiss filed by Melson. For reasons that follow, the court will grant the motion and dismiss this lawsuit, albeit without prejudice.

I.

The events leading up to this litigation and the pending motion may be summarized as follows:

• In November 1994, in Barbour County, Alabama, Melson purchased a vehicle from Davis Chevrolet-Olds-Geo. General Motors Acceptance Corporation, also known as GMAC, financed the transaction, MIC Life Insurance Credit Corporation sold the credit insurance on the loan, and Universal Underwriters wrote the auto service contract. According to Melson, Greg Freeman acted as an agent for GMAC, MIC Life and Universal Underwriters.

• Melson contends that Freeman fraudulently stated to him that he was required to obtain credit insurance in order to receive the loan, and fraudulently told him that Universal Underwriters’s vehicle service contract was required in order to obtain the loan. Melson further claims that Freeman fraudulently failed to disclose to him that he was paying a hidden finance charge that was split between GMAC and Davis ChevroletOlds-Geo. Melson further claims that GMAC, MIC Life, and Universal Underwriters negligently and wantonly hired, trained, and supervised Freeman.

• On August 21, 1996, Universal Underwriters filed this federal lawsuit against Mel-son, seeking a declaration “that the employee^) of Davis Chevrolet who negotiated the sale of the vehicle service contract were not agent(s) of [Universal Underwriters] for the purposes of the sale,” and “that the actions of [Universal Underwriters] with respect to [Melson] were legitimate.” Universal Underwriters filed this lawsuit shortly after Melson gave a deposition, on July 24,1996, in another lawsuit making allegations similar to his against Universal Underwriters.

• On September 16, 1996, Melson filed his own lawsuit in state court, charging fraud, negligence, and wantonness under state law and seeking both compensatory and punitive damages. In his lawsuit, Melson named not only Universal Underwriters, but GMAC, MIC Life, and Freeman as defendants.

II.

Over 50 years ago, in Brillhart v. Excess Ins. Co., 316 U.S. 491, 62 S.Ct. 1173, 86 L.Ed. 1620 (1942), the Supreme Court addressed circumstances almost identical to those presented to this court. An insurer, anticipating a coercive suit, sought a declaration in federal court of nonliability on an insurance policy. The district court dismissed the lawsuit in favor of a pending state proceeding, to which the insurer had been added as a defendant. The appellate court reversed, holding that the trial court had abused its discretion, and ordered the trial court to proceed to the merits. The Su[387]*387preme Court reversed the appellate court and held that, “Although the District Court had jurisdiction of the suit under the Federal Declaratory Judgment Act, it was under no compulsion to exercise that jurisdiction.” Brillhart, 316 U.S. at 494, 62 S.Ct. at 1175. The Court explained that “Ordinarily it would be uneconomical as well as vexatious for a federal court to proceed in a declaratory judgment suit where another suit is pending in a state court presenting the same issues, not governed by federal law between the same parties.” Id. at 495, 62 S.Ct. at 1175-76. The Supreme Court explained that the question for a federal court presented with a suit under the Declaratory Judgment Act is “whether the questions in controversy between the parties to the federal suit, and which are not foreclosed under the applicable substantive law, can better be settled in the proceeding pending in the state court.” Id.

Last year, in Wilton v. Seven Falls, Co., — U.S. -, 115 S.Ct. 2137, 132. L.Ed.2d 214 (1995), the Supreme Court reaffirmed Brillhart’s holding. The Court rejected the suggestion that intervening decisions, see Colorado River Water Conservation Dist. v. United States, 424 U.S. 800, 96 S.Ct. 1236, 47 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976), Will v. Calvert Fire Ins. Co., 437 U.S. 655, 98 S.Ct. 2552, 57 L.Ed.2d 504 (1978), and Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Constr. Corp., 460 U.S. 1, 103 S.Ct. 927, 74 L.Ed.2d 765 (1983), had in any way undermined Brillhart’s holdings. The Wilton Court stated that district courts still “have substantial latitude in deciding whether to stay or to dismiss a declaratory suit in light of pending state proceedings.” — U.S. at-, 115 S.Ct. at 2142. See also United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company v. Algernon-Blair, Inc., 705 F.Supp. 1507 (M.D.Ala.1988) (holding that Brillhart was still controlling after Colorado River, Calvert Fire Ins., and Moses H. Cone).

In applying Brillhart, the Eleventh Circuit has held that, of the many factors that may legitimately enter into a district court’s decision whether to hear a prayer for declaratory relief, the existence of an ongoing state proceeding involving the same issues as the declaratory judgment action is the most potent. Angora Enterprises, Inc. v. Condominium Association of Lakeside Village, Inc., 796 F.2d 384, 387-88 (11th Cir.1986) (per curiam); Michigan Tech Fund v. Century National Bank of Broward, 680 F.2d 736, 742 (11th Cir.1982); Ven-Fuel, Inc. v. Department of the Treasury, 673 F.2d 1194, 1195 (11th Cir.1982); see also 6A J. Moore, Moore’s Federal Practice ¶ 57.08[3] at 57-44 (1984). “Exercise of federal jurisdiction in such a situation risks unnecessary commitment of scarce judicial resources, multiplicative expenditures of legal services, inconsistent rulings at numerous litigation junctures, and the appearance of disregard for the state trial court’s authority and expertise in violation of basic norms of federal and state comity.” Algernon-Blair, 70S F.Supp. at 1514.

Of course, Melson’s ongoing state court litigation could not serve as a per se bar to Universal Underwriters’s declaratory judgment action. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 57 (“The existence of another adequate remedy does not preclude a judgment for declaratory relief in cases where it is appropriate.”); 6A J. Moore, Moore’s Federal Practice ¶57.08[6-1] at 57-54 (1984).

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