The Eastern District of Pennsylvania denied plaintiffs’ motion to certify certain issues under Rule 23(c)(4) and 23(b)(2), holding that the presence of numerous individualized questions, choice-of-law concerns, and other inefficiencies in the putative class litigation made certification inappropriate. Allstate had terminated over 6,200 agents, 90% of whom happened to be over the age of 40, offering four different severance options to the terminated agents. Three of the ... Keep Reading »
Insurance Class Action Articles
The latest class action developments and trends in the insurance industry, including news, key cases, and strategies.
Seventh Circuit Addresses Burden of Proof Under CAFA’s Home State Exception, Affirms Denial of Remand and Award of Costs to Defendant Insurer, and Admonishes Class Counsel
The Seventh Circuit recently addressed the applicability of the home state exception under the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”). The case arose from health insurer Right Choice Insurance Company’s withdrawal from the Illinois market and cancellation of its insurance policies. Former policyholders filed a putative class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois alleging that cancellation of their policies violated ... Keep Reading »
Class Representative’s Motion To Remand For Insufficient Amount In Controversy Doesn’t Add Up
A Kentucky federal court recently ruled that a class plaintiff may not defeat removal by understating the aggregate amount in controversy alleged in her complaint. The defendants had assisted plaintiff in connection with her claim for Social Security Disability benefits after she was referred to them by her long-term disability insurance carrier. According to plaintiff, the nature of the fee arrangement between the defendants and the referring insurance carriers ... Keep Reading »
A Class Action By Any Other Name Is Still A Class Action And Subject To CAFA
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri denied a plaintiff’s motion to remand a collection action against insurers brought on behalf of a certified class that had obtained a judgment in a separate action against a mobile home park operator. After obtaining the judgment, the class representative filed a separate “equitable garnishment action” against the park operator’s insurers under a Missouri statute that provides for collection of insurance by a ... Keep Reading »
Must Claims Severed From A CAFA Class Action Be Remanded To State Court? The Fifth Circuit Says No.
Following Hurricane Katrina, the State of Louisiana filed a class action to recover under homeowners’ insurance policies that the state had received by assignment through a disaster relief program. The insurers successfully removed to federal court based on CAFA jurisdiction, and challenged the assignability of the homeowners’ contractual rights. Finding that Louisiana law required a policy by policy examination of each anti-assignment clause, the district court ... Keep Reading »
The Eleventh Circuit Declares that CAFA’s Amount-in-Controversy Requirement Can Be Satisfied In Declaratory Relief Cases
On February 14, 2014, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Class Action Fairness Act’s (CAFA) $5,000,000 amount-in-controversy requirement can be satisfied where the plaintiff seeks only declaratory relief. S. Fla. Wellness, Inc. v. Allstate Ins. Co., No. 14-10001, --- F.3d ---, 2014 WL 576111 (11th Cir. Feb. 14, 2014). A dispute arose when South Florida Wellness, a Florida-based healthcare provider, sought payment from Allstate for its treatment of an ... Keep Reading »