Metro. Life Ins. Co. v. Oliver

• Decision Date: 16 October 2020
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 20-cv-10479-IT
• Parties: METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE CO., Plaintiff, v. DAVID M. OLIVER, JAMES W. OLIVER, BARBARA FORTH, CAROL LEE OLIVER, PAUL R. WEBB, III, and THOMAS J. WEBB, Individually and as Executor of the Estate of Paul R. Webb, II, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE CO., Plaintiff,
v.
DAVID M. OLIVER, JAMES W. OLIVER, BARBARA FORTH,
CAROL LEE OLIVER, PAUL R. WEBB, III, and THOMAS J. WEBB,
Individually and as Executor of the Estate of Paul R. Webb, II, Defendants.

Civil Action No. 20-cv-10479-IT

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

October 16, 2020

Memorandum and Order

TALWANI, D.J.

I. Introduction

Pending before this court in this action in interpleader is Defendant James Oliver's Motion to Transfer Venue [#42] to the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York and Defendants Paul R. Webb, III, and Thomas J. Webb's Motion to Transfer Venue [#50] to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. For the reasons that follow, the Motion to Transfer Venue [#42] to the Northern District of New York is GRANTED and the Motion to Transfer Venue [#50] to the Middle District of Florida is DENIED.¹

II. Procedural History

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company ("MetLife") brought this action to resolve a dispute between Defendants David Oliver, James Oliver, Barbara Forth, and Carol Lee Oliver

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("Oliver Defendants") and Paul Webb, III, and Thomas J. Webb² ("Webb Defendants") over life insurance benefits payable under the terms of decedent Paul Webb, II's ("Decedent") MetLife-insured employee benefit plan established and maintained by General Electric. Complaint ¶¶ 1, 12, 23 [#1]. MetLife alleges that James Oliver has asserted that a December 15 Beneficiary Designation is invalid because the Decedent was incompetent and lacked the capacity to execute it or was unduly influenced to execute it by Thomas Webb. Id. ¶ 24. MetLife states that if a court determines that the December 2015 Beneficiary Designation is valid, then the Plan Benefits would be payable to the Webb Defendants. Id. ¶ 25. MetLife alleges further that if the December 2015 Beneficiary Designation is not valid, then the Plan Benefits may be payable to the Oliver Defendants based on an April or June 2014 Beneficiary Designation. Id. ¶ 26.

The Oliver Defendants, proceeding pro se, have each filed nearly identical answers and crossclaims. See Am. Answer and Crossclaim of James Oliver [#37]; Am. Answer and Crossclaim of Carol Oliver [#38], Am. Answer and Crossclaim of Barbara Oliver Forth [#39], Answer and Crossclaim of David Oliver [#40].³ The Oliver Defendants seek a declaratory judgment concerning the life insurance benefits, alleging that the Decedent's December 2015 Insurance Beneficiary Designation (naming the Webb Defendants) is invalid as the result of undue influence exerted by the Webb Defendants and because the Decedent was not competent to alter his June 2014 Designation (naming the Oliver Defendants). See e.g. Am. Answer and Crossclaim of James Oliver ¶¶ 81-84 [#37].⁴

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The Webb Defendants have also answered MetLife's Complaint, and have filed a crossclaim for a declaratory judgment that the Decedent's December 2015 Insurance Beneficiary Designation is valid. Answer and Crossclaim ¶¶ 33-35 [#26].⁵

The parties subsequently stipulated to MetLife depositing the contested funds and applicable interest with the court where they would remain pending further order, and to MetLife's subsequent dismissal from this action with prejudice. Stipulation [#92]. The court endorsed the Stipulation [#93], but funds have not yet been deposited.

III. Background

A. Defendants and their Relationships to the Decedent

Paul Webb, III, and Thomas J. Webb are the Decedent's children with his wife Marion Webb, who died in 1992. Answer and Crossclaim of Webb Defendants ¶ 11 [#26]; Am. Answer and Crossclaim of James Oliver ¶ 10 [#37]. David Oliver, James Oliver, Barbara Forth, and Carol Lee Oliver are the Decedent's step-children; the Decedent was married to the Oliver Defendants' mother, Anne Oliver (referred to at times as Anne Webb), from 1995 until her death in March 2014. Answer and Crossclaim of Webb Defendants ¶¶ 12, 14 [#26]; Am. Answer and

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Crossclaim of James Oliver ¶¶ 12-13, 20 [#37].

Paul Webb, III, is a resident of Pennsylvania. Complaint ¶ 7; Answer and Crossclaim of Webb Defendants ¶ 7 [#26]. Thomas Webb is a resident of Florida. Complaint ¶ 8; Answer and Crossclaim of Webb Defendants ¶ 8 [#26]; Affidavit of Thomas J. Webb ¶ 3 [#94]. David Oliver and Carol Lee Oliver are residents of Massachusetts. Complaint ¶¶ 3, 6; Answer and Crossclaim of David Oliver ¶ 2 [#40]; Am. Answer and Crossclaim of Carol Oliver ¶ 1 [#38]. James W. Oliver is a resident of Connecticut. Complaint ¶ 4; Am. Answer and Crossclaim of James Oliver ¶ 1 [#37]. Barbara Forth is a resident of California. Complaint ¶ 5; Am. Answer and Crossclaim of Barbara Forth ¶ 1 [#39].

B. MetLife, the Decedent's Life Insurance, and the Beneficiary Designation Forms

MetLife is an insurance company with its principal place of business in New York, N.Y. Compl. ¶ 2. MetLife alleges that the Decedent had group life insurance coverage under an employee benefit plan (the "Plan") maintained by General Electric Company. The Plan gives a Plan participant the right to name his beneficiary, id. ¶ 15, and was administered in Schenectady, New York. See Beneficiary Life Insurance Claim Forms 2 [#1-8] (listing the address for "GE Live Insurance Claims" in Schenectady, New York); Letter from James Oliver to GE Survivor Support [#1-9]; Letter from James Oliver to MetLife [#1-10]. According to the Beneficiary Designation forms submitted with the Complaint, in December 2003, the Decedent, then a resident of Niskayuna, N.Y.,⁶ designated his wife Anne Webb as his sole beneficiary for the life insurance benefits at issue here. December 2003 Beneficiary Designation Form [#1-6]; see also Complaint ¶ 20 [#1]. In April 2014 and June 2014, the Decedent, still at the same residence,

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designated the Oliver Defendants as his beneficiaries for these benefits.⁷ June 2014 Beneficiary Designation Form [#1-4]; April 2014 Beneficiary Designation Form [#1-5]. On December 1, 2015, the Decedent, still listing his address as New York, designated the Webb Defendants as his beneficiaries of the life insurance benefits. December 2015 Beneficiary Designation Form [#1-3].⁸

C. Further Allegations Relating to the Insurance Dispute

The Oliver Defendants contend that, while residing in New York in 2013, the Decedent was diagnosed as suffering from cognitive insufficiency. See e.g. Am. Answer and Crossclaim of James Oliver ¶ 17 [#37]. They contend that he still had the necessary mental capacity to know and understand the legal import of what he was signing in June 2014, but that during 2015 he continued to experience an increased mental decline, and by late fall 2015, he lacked the ability to engage in complex or abstract reasoning. Id. ¶¶ 24-30. The Oliver Defendants contend that David Oliver contacted Paul Webb, III, and notified him of the Decedent's continued mental and physical decline and the need to explore the option of placing the Decedent in a long-term care facility. Id. ¶¶ 32-33.

The Oliver Defendants allege further that Paul Webb, III, "appeared unannounced" at the Decedent's home in New...