Lamarche v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., Civ. 01-123-B-H.

• Decision Date: 16 December 2002
• Docket Number: No. Civ. 01-123-B-H.,Civ. 01-123-B-H.
• Citation: 236 F.Supp.2d 50
• Parties: Paul H. LAMARCHE, Plaintiff v. METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE CO., Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff v. Lorna Armesto, Third-Party Defendant
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maine

236 F.Supp.2d 50

Paul H. LAMARCHE, Plaintiff v. METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE CO., Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff v. Lorna Armesto, Third-Party Defendant

No. Civ. 01-123-B-H.

United States District Court, D. Maine.

December 16, 2002.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

John A. Woodcock, Jr., Weatherbee, Woodcock, Burlock & Woodcock, Bangor, ME, for Paul H Lamarche, In his capacity as Personal Representative of the Estate of Erlinda Polvorosa Lamarche and as Trustee of the Erlinda A. Polvorosa Family Trust, plaintiff.

John Haddow, Farrell, Rosenblatt & Russell, Bangor, ME, for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, defendant.

Phillip D. Buckley, Rudman & Winchell, Bangor, ME, Albert S. Tablante, Jr., Alvy & Tablante, LLP, Lake Success, NY, for Lorna Armesto, third-party defendant.

ORDER AFFIRMING RECOMMENDED DECISION OF THE MAGISTRATE JUDGE

HORNBY, Chief Judge.

The United States Magistrate Judge filed with the court on November 6, 2002, with copies to counsel, her Recommended Decision on Metropolitan's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and Motion for Summary Judgment and Order on Metropolitan's Motion for Exclusion of Expert Testimony. Metropolitan filed an objection to the Recommended Decision on November 18, 2002. I have reviewed and considered the Recommended Decision, together with the entire record; and I have made a de novo determination of all matters adjudicated by the Recommended Decision; and I concur with the recommendations of the United States Magistrate Judge for the reasons set forth in her Recommended Decision, and determine that no further proceeding is necessary.

It is therefore ORDERED that the Recommended Decision of the Magistrate Judge is hereby ADOPTED.

Metropolitan's Motions for Judgment on the Pleadings and to Dismiss are GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART as follows: (1) the motion against Armesto's Cross-Claims is DENIED; (2) the motion with respect to LaMarche's Count I (declaratory judgment), Count II (breach of contract), Count III (bad faith breach of contract), Count V (24-A M.R.S.A. § 2436-A) and Count VI (24-A M.R.S.A. § 2436) is DENIED; and (3) the motion against LaMarche's Count IV (negligence) is GRANTED.

Metropolitan's Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART as follows: (1) the motion with respect to Counts V and VIII of LaMarche's Amended Complaint is GRANTED; and (2) the motion in all other respects is DENIED.

SO ORDERED.

RECOMMENDED DECISION ON METROPOLITAN'S MOTION FOR JUDGMENT ON THE PLEADINGS AND MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND ORDER ON METROPOLITAN'S MOTION FOR EXCLUSION OF EXPERT TESTIMONY

KRAVCHUK, United States Magistrate Judge.

Plaintiff Paul LaMarche filed suit in this Court against Defendant Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, seeking the proceeds of two life insurance annuity contracts Metropolitan issued to his deceased wife and additional remedies based on various legal and equitable theories. Because Metropolitan was already defending a claim to recover the same proceeds brought by Third-Party Defendant Lorna Armesto in New York, Metropolitan haled Armesto into this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1335, the federal interpleader statute. Metropolitan currently has pending two dispositive motions and two nondispositive motions:

(1) A Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and to Dismiss, Docket No. 30;¹

(2) A Motion for Summary Judgment, Docket No. 34;

(3) A Motion for Exclusion of Expert Testimony, Docket No. 33; and

(4) A Motion to Strike Portions of [the] Affidavit of Paul LaMarche, Docket No. 56.

This Recommended Decision addresses only Docket Numbers 30, 33 and 34. Docket No. 56 is addressed in a companion decision and order captioned Recommended Decision on Lorna Armesto's Motion for Summary Judgment and Order on Evidentiary-Related Filings.² With respect to Metropolitan's dispositive motions, Docket Numbers 30 and 34, I now recommend that the Court GRANT each IN PART and DENY each IN PART. With respect to the non-dispositive Motion for Exclusion, Docket No. 33, I hereby DENY it for failing to comply with Local Rule 7 and for its mootness in light of my recommendations on the dispositive motions.

Procedural History

The individual insured under both annuity contracts, Erlinda Polvorosa LaMarche ("Polvorosa"), died on August 22, 1998. Armesto, Metropolitan's beneficiary of record on both annuity contracts, filed suit against Metropolitan in the Supreme Court for the State of New York in August 2000, seeking to recover the proceeds of the contracts. In June 2001, Paul LaMarche initiated suit against Metropolitan in this Court, seeking, among other relief, a declaration that he, as Trustee of the Erlinda A. Polvorosa Family Trust, is the proper beneficiary of the annuity contracts rather than Armesto. Docket No. 1. In August 2001, Metropolitan filed its Answer to LaMarche's Complaint and incorporated a Counterclaim for Interpleader pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1335. Docket No. 2. Metropolitan simultaneously filed a Complaint for Interpleader pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1335, Docket No. 3, which it subsequently served on Armesto.

LaMarche answered the Counterclaim for Interpleader, Docket No. 5, but not the Complaint for Interpleader, which requests the same relief as the counterclaim. Armesto answered Metropolitan's Complaint for Interpleader and incorporated a Cross-Claim against Metropolitan. Docket No. 11.

Armesto's Cross-Claim asserts two³ contract claims for the proceeds of the annuity contracts. Id. LaMarche, in his dual capacity as Personal Representative of the Estate of Erlinda Polvorosa LaMarche and as Trustee of the Erlinda A. Polvorosa Family Trust, advances six claims against Metropolitan. These claims can be found in LaMarche's Amended Complaint, appended to his April 1, 2002 Motion to Amend, Docket No. 20. They consist of Counts I through V and VIII.⁴ The forms of relief sought by LaMarche are as follows:

(1) A declaration that Lamarche, as Trustee of the Erlinda A. Polvorosa Family Trust, is entitled to the proceeds of the annuity contracts and equitable relief in the nature of an order to pay over the same;

(2) Damages for breach of an alleged contractual obligation to pay the proceeds over to the Trust;

(3) Damages for "bad faith" breach of the alleged contractual obligation to pay the proceeds over to the Trust;

(4) Damages for negligently failing "to process Erlinda [Polvorosa's] beneficiary change requests";

(5) Damages, interest and fees pursuant to 24-A M.R.S.A. § 2436-A for "unfair claims settlement practices"; and

(6) Damages, interest and fees pursuant to 24-A M.R.S.A. § 2436 for "interest on overdue payments."

Metropolitan moved for judgment on the pleadings and to dismiss the claims against it on June 19, 2002. Docket No. 30. On July 31, 2002, Metropolitan timely filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, Docket No. 34, and also filed a Motion for Exclusion of Expert Testimony, Docket No. 33. On the same day, Armesto filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, To Amend [Her] Crossclaim, and Alternatively to Strike Proffered Testimony of Expert Witness. Docket No. 37. On August 23, 2002, LaMarche timely filed one consolidated objection to Metropolitan's and Armesto's several motions. Docket No. 45.

I. Metropolitan's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and to Dismiss

In its motion for judgment on the pleadings, Metropolitan asks that it be dismissed from the action because it has deposited with the Court the proceeds of the annuity contracts and does not dispute that either Armesto or LaMarche is entitled to the funds. Metropolitan argues that by filing an interpleader action it discharged all common law and statutory duties owed to either Armesto or LaMarche. Docket No. 30 at 2-3.

LaMarche argues that his claims are independent of the interpleader remedy that Metropolitan has interjected and should not be dismissed. Docket No. 45 at 15. Armesto did not file an opposition brief, but I will construe as such the "Affidavit of Albert S. Tablante, Jr. in Opposition to Metropolitan's Motion to Dismiss," Docket No. 41.

The Rule 12(c) Standard.

A motion for judgment on the pleadings is governed by Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(c). The First Circuit has articulated the applicable standard for evaluating such a motion as follows:

[T]he trial court must accept all of the nonmovant's well-pleaded factual [allegations] as true and draw all reasonable inferences in [its] favor.... [T]he court may not grant a defendant's Rule 12(c) motion unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of [its] claim which would entitle [it] to relief.

Rivera-Gomez v. de Castro, 843 F.2d 631, 635 (1st Cir.1988) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). In addition to the non-movant's well-pleaded factual allegations, the court "may properly consider the relevant entirety of a document integral to or explicitly relied upon in the complaint ... without converting the motion into one for summary judgment." Clorox Co. Puerto Rico v. Proctor & Gamble Commercial Co., 228 F.3d 24, 32 (1st Cir.2000) (citing Shaw v. Digital Equip. Corp., 82 F.3d 1194, 1220 (1st Cir.1996)). Finally, when the party seeking judgment on the pleadings submits materials in addition to the pleadings, that are otherwise not integral to, incorporated in or attached to the complaint, it is within the court's discretion whether to consider those materials thereby transforming the motion into one for summary judgment by operation of Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(c). Cf. Snyder v. Talbot, 836 F.Supp. 19, 21 n. 3 (D.Me.1993) (treating identical language with respect to a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6)).

Because Metropolitan did not interject materials extraneous to the pleadings in support of this motion, the "record" for purposes of Metropolitan's motion for judgment on the pleadings consists of the pleadings, any reasonable inferences that can be drawn therefrom in favor of the non-movants, and material portions of the annuity...