West Chester University Foundation v. MetLife Insurance Co.

259 F. Supp. 3d 211
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 13, 2017
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO. 15-3627
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 259 F. Supp. 3d 211 (West Chester University Foundation v. MetLife Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
West Chester University Foundation v. MetLife Insurance Co., 259 F. Supp. 3d 211 (E.D. Pa. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

Jones, II, District Judge

Defendant MetLife Insurance Company is an insurance provider from which Plaintiff West Chester University Foundation purchased two variable life insurance policies. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant fraudulently represented that after making six out of pocket payments on each policy, Plaintiff would never have to make another payment. Defendant allegedly assured Plaintiff that investments associated with the policies would yield sufficient returns to cover the cost of all future premiums. Plaintiffs made the six out of pocket payments on each policy, but the investments associated with the policies did not perform as projected, and were insufficient to cover the remaining payments owed. Based on the foregoing, Plaintiff brings suit against Defendant for fraud, fraud in the inducement, negligent misrepresentation, promissory estoppel, bad faith, and unjust enrichment. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), Defendant moves to dismiss each count of the Amended Complaint. For the reasons that follow, Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

BACKGROUND

The court accepts Plaintiffs allegations as true at the motion to dismiss stage and therefore recites the facts as alleged by Plaintiff.

Plaintiff is a Pennsylvania based nonprofit corporation that, as part of its charitable purpose and through fundraising activities, donates resources to prospective contributors. (Am. Compl. ¶ 5, 9.) Defendant developed a vanishing premium scheme for flexible premium variable life insurance policies and advanced the scheme through misleading and false representations. (Am. Compl. ¶ 10, 13) Specifi[215]*215cally, Defendant represented that future premium payments would vanish after the “out of pocket” payment of a limited number of premiums, because investments made in connection with the accounts would yield returns sufficient to cover the future^payments. (Am. Compl. ¶ 12). Plaintiff relied on such representations and thus procured two MetLife Flexible Premium Variable Life Insurance policies (“Policies”) with the Foundation as the owner and beneficiary of the Policies. (Am. Compl. ¶ 24-25.) The Policies have not delivered in accordance with MetLife’s projections, representations, and warranties, or in accordance with the reasonable expectations of the Foundation. (Am. Compl. ¶ 31.) The annual premiums never vanished and as such, the Policies will lapse unless Plaintiff continues to pay the annual premium for each. (Am. Compl. ¶ 32-33). Plaintiff therefore brings suit against Defendant under Pennsylvania law for fraud, fraud in the inducement, negligent misrepresentation, promissory estoppel, bad faith, and unjust enrichment. (Am. Compl. ¶ 36-72). Presently before this -Court is Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss each of Plaintiffs claims, Plaintiffs Response in Opposition, and Defendant’s Reply.

LEGAL STANDARD

In deciding a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), courts must “accept all factual allegations as true, construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, and determine whether, under any reasonable reading of the complaint, the plaintiff may be entitled to relief.” Phillips v. Cnty. of Allegheny, 515 F.3d 224, 233 (3d Cir. 2008) (internal quotation marks omitted). After the Supreme Court’s decision in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007), “[tjhread-bare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955). This standard, which applies to all civil cases, “asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Id. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937; accord Fowler v. UPMC Shadyside, 578 F.3d 203, 210 (3d Cir. 2009) (“[A]ll civil complaints must contain more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.”) (internal quotation marks omitted).

Because Counts I and II of the Amended Complaint allege fraud, they are subject to the heightened pleading requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b). United States ex rel. Whatley v. Eastwick, Coll., 657 Fed.Appx. 89, 94 (3d Cir. 2016). “In alleging fraud or mistake, a party must state with particularity the circumstances constituting fraud or mistake. Malice, intent, knowledge and other conditions of a person’s mind may be alleged generally.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b). The aim of this heightened pleading standard is to “place the defendants on notice of the precise misconduct with which they are charged, and to safeguard defendants against spurious charges of immoral and fraudulent behavior.” Seville Indus. Mach. Corp. v. Southmost Mach. Corp., 7 742 F.2d 786 (3d Cir. 1984). “Rule 9(b) requires, at minimum, that plaintiffs support their allegations of ... fraud with all of the essential background facts that would áccompany the first paragraph of any newspaper story — that is the who, what, when, where, and how, of the events at issue.” In re Rockefeller Ctr. Props. Sec. Litig., 311 F.3d 198, 217 (3d Cir. 2002) (internal citations omitted).

[216]*216DISCUSSION

In its Response to Defendant’s Motion to • Dismiss,. Plaintiff alleges that Defendant’s Motion was filed out of time, and should consequently be denied as time .barred. (Resp., 2). Plaintiff filed the Amended Complaint on June 20, 2016 and Defendant filed its Motion to Dismiss on July 7, 2016. Despite Plaintiffs contentions to the contrary, Defendant’s Motion was timely, as Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(d) afforded Defendant a total of seventeen days to file any responsive pleading, if said pleading would be filed electronically — as the present Motion was. Having established the timeliness of Defendant’s Motion, the court now considers each ground upon which Defendant contends that Plaintiffs Amended Complaint should be dismissed.

Pursuant to-Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), Defendant moves to dismiss each claim advanced in Plaintiffs Amended Complaint. Defendant argues that all of Plaintiffs claims are procedurally barred by the applicable statutes of limitations and that each count of the Amended Complaint fails to substantively state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
259 F. Supp. 3d 211, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/west-chester-university-foundation-v-metlife-insurance-co-paed-2017.