Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB v. Universitas Education, LLC

164 F. Supp. 3d 273, 93 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1896, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19552, 2016 WL 632442
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedFebruary 17, 2016
DocketCIVIL CASE NUMBER: 3:15-cv-911 (VLB)
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 164 F. Supp. 3d 273 (Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB v. Universitas Education, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB v. Universitas Education, LLC, 164 F. Supp. 3d 273, 93 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1896, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19552, 2016 WL 632442 (D. Conn. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

Vanessa L. Bryant, United States District Judge

This action involves the arbitrability of a dispute between a beneficiary and alleged trustee of an insurance policy issued pursuant to a Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangement (“MEWA”). This action' also raises three thorny issues of civil procedure. The first procedural issue is whether the action must be remanded to state court because the diverse defendant removed it here on diversity grounds and alleged that the non-diverse defendant was fraudulently joined. The second procedural issue is whether the plaintiff should be allowed to amend its complaint after removal to assert new claims against the non-diverse defendant if the Court rules that the non-diverse defendant was fraudulently joined. The final procedural issue is whether this case should be stayed if the Court rules that the plaintiff and diverse defendant agreed to arbitrate.

The details surrounding the formation of the MEWA are not entirely clear, but the facts are sufficiently clear to permit this [278]*278Court to resolve all issues presented. The MEWA at issue, Charter Oak Trust (“COT”), held itself out as a vehicle for employers to obtain life insurance coverage for their employees. Plaintiff Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB, as successor-in-interest to Christiana Bank & Trust Company (“Wilmington”), served as the insurance ■ trustee for a MEWA named Charter Oak Trust. A participating employer in COT obtained two life insurance policies for its chief executive officer, and that executive designated Defendant Univ-ersitas Education, LLC (“Universitas”) as the beneficiary of both policies. At least one 'of the policies was deposited in a trust account opened by Wilmington, and Wilmington monitored both policies. The executive passed away, and the insurance company paid the death benefits to COT, which rebuffed Universitas’s demand for payment of the benefits. Universitas later sought arbitration with Wilmington, alleging that it acted improperly as COT’s insurance trustee.

Soon thereafter, in Connecticut Superior Court, Wilmington sought a declaratory judgment ruling that it was not obligated to arbitrate Universitas’s claims because Wilmington was not a party to the declaration of trust containing the arbitration agreement referenced in the arbitration demand. Wilmington alleged that it served as the insurance trustee for a different trust, also named Charter Oak Trust but sponsored by a different entity. Wilmington contends that it was not responsible for administering the insurance policies claimed by Universitas and not a proper party to the arbitration proceeding initiated by Universitas. The complaint names Universitas, a diverse defendant, and Defendant Ridgewood Finance II, LLC, as successor-in-interest to Ridgewood Finance, Inc. (“Ridgewood”), a non-diverse party who, according to Universitas’s arbitration demand, appointed Wilmington to serve as COT’s insurance trustee. Univer-sitas removed the action to this Court on the basis of diversity jurisdiction, and Wilmington moves to remand the action back to state court on the basis that Ridge-wood’s presence deprives this Court of diversity jurisdiction.

The first issue — whether the action must be remanded to state court — turns on whether there is any possibility, based on the state court pleadings, that Wilmington can state a cause of action against Ridge-wood. As explained in greater detail below, no possibility exists because Ridgewood is not a permissive, necessary, or indispensi-ble party to the arbitrability dispute and the allegations in the state court complaint do not suggest a separate, yet related, declaratory judgment against Ridgewood.

Wilmington sought to amend its complaint after Universitas removed the action here, and the proposed amendment also seeks a declaratory judgment declaring Wilmington’s rights and obligations arising from its appointment agreement with Ridgewood. The second issue — whether Wilmington should be allowed to amend— turns on whether amendment would be fundamentally fair. It would not. The allegations in the amended complaint still do not suggest a separate, yet related, declaratory judgment against Ridgewood because the only legal dispute between the two parties vis-a-vis the appointment agreement concerns indemnification and the amended complaint does not raise that dispute. Notably, that dispute is currently being litigated in a separate state-court action. Even assuming that the amended complaint had properly sought a declaratory judgment against Ridgewood, permitting Wilmington to circumvent fraudulent joinder has no equitable justification.

The final two issues concern Universi-tas’s motion to compel arbitration and stay [279]*279litigation. Whether the dispute is arbitra-ble turns on whether Wilmington and Universitas agreed to arbitrate the payment of the disputed life insurance benefits. The undisputed evidence demonstrates that, even assuming that there were two trusts named COT, Wilmington agreed to arbitrate any and all disputes relating to the COT holding the insurance policies claimed by Universitas. Whether this action should be stayed pending arbitration turns on whether any or all claims in this action have been referred to arbitration. None have. This action raises only a judicial dispute — that is, arbitrability. In other words, a stay should be denied because the proceeding is “independent” rather than “embedded.”

Factual and Procedural Background

In April 2015, Universitas brought an arbitration demand against Wilmington. ECF No. 1-1. The arbitration demand contains the following allegations. Daniel Carpenter, currently being prosecuted in connection with activities related to this litigation, concocted a financial conspiracy involving a MEWA named COT. Id. at ¶¶ 20, 25, 61. COT held itself out as exclusively designed to provide life insurance benefits to participating employer’s employees for the benefit of those employees, their dependents, and their beneficiaries. Id. at ¶ 22. COT would own and be named as beneficiary of the life insurance policies, but it would pay death benefits to a beneficiary selected by the insured employee (“insurance beneficiary”). Id. at ¶ 21. The declaration of trust named Nova Group, LLC (“Nova”) as COT’s sponsor, fiduciary, and corporate trustee. Id. at ¶ 24. The corporate trustee’s duties consisted of managing COT’s assets. ECF No. 1-2 at §§ 2.24, 10.02. The declaration of trust vested the power “[t]o compromise, settle[,] or adjust any claim or demand by or against the Trust and/or th[e] Plan & Trust with regard to ... any insurance policy that may be held thereunder” with the insurance trustee. Id. at § 12.01. The declaration of trust did not identify an insurance trustee and instead gave an-interested third-party (subject o the plan sponsor’s approval) the authority to appoint an insurance trustee. Id. at § 2.13. Ridgewood, a private equity group financing COT with millions, acted as the interested third-party and later appointed Wilmington as the insurance trustee.1 ECF No. 1-1 at ¶¶ 27-28. Under COT, “any and all disputes regarding the Trust or the Plan shall be settled by Arbitration.” 2 Id. at ¶ 18 (internal quotation marks ánd alteration omitted).

The arbitration demand further alleged that Holding Capital Group, Inc., a participating employer in COT, purchased two life insurance policies totaling $80 million for its chief executive officer, Sash A. Spencer. Id. at ¶ 48. Spencer selected.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
164 F. Supp. 3d 273, 93 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1896, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19552, 2016 WL 632442, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilmington-savings-fund-society-fsb-v-universitas-education-llc-ctd-2016.