Miller v. City of Birmingham

• Decision Date: 21 April 2017
• Docket Number: 1151084
• Citation: 235 So.3d 220
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court
• Parties: Laura MILLER v. CITY OF BIRMINGHAM et al.

235 So.3d 220

Laura MILLER

v.CITY OF BIRMINGHAM et al.

1151084

Supreme Court of Alabama.

April 21, 2017

M. Clayborn Williams and David P. Martin of The Martin Law Group, LLC, Tuscaloosa, for appellant.

Brian Kilgore, asst. city atty., City of Birminghan Department of Law, Birmingham, for appellees.

PARKER, Justice.

Laura Miller appeals from a summary judgment entered by the Jefferson Circuit Court ("the circuit court") in favor of the City of Birmingham ("the City"), Sandy Roberts, and Alice Crutchfield (hereinafter referred to collectively as "the City defendants").

I. Facts and Procedural History

Robert Jeffrey Miller, Mrs. Miller's husband, was employed by the City as a firefighter. Unum Life Insurance Company of America ("Unum") issued a group life and accidental death and dismemberment policy, identification number 293964 001, to the City on July 1, 2011 ("the policy"). The policy provided life-insurance benefits to eligible employees of the City. The policy itself has not been submitted into evidence; however, a summary of the benefits of the policy was submitted by Mrs. Miller. According to the summary of benefits, the policy included different life-insurance benefits for active employees and for retired employees. Under the policy, as an active employee, the City paid Mr. Miller's insurance premiums and Mr. Miller was entitled to a life-insurance benefit of $151,000, a result reached by multiplying his annual earnings by 1.75. However, if Mr. Miller were to become a retiree, he would be required to pay his life-insurance premiums and would be entitled to only a $50,000 life-insurance benefit. The summary of benefits also included the following provision: "What happens to your life insurance coverage if you become disabled? Your life insurance coverage may be continued for a specific time and your life insurance premium will be waived if you qualify as described below." The summary of benefits specified that, in order to be eligible for a waiver of the life-insurance premiums, the insured had to "be disabled through your elimination period," which is nine months. The summary of benefits further stated:

"When will your life insurance premium waiver begin?

"....

"Your life insurance premium waiver will begin when we approve your claim, if the elimination period has ended and you meet the following conditions. Your Employer may continue premium payments until Unum notifies your Employer of the date your life insurance premium waiver begins.

"Your life insurance premium will be waived if you meet these conditions:

"you are less than 60 and insured under the plan.

"you become disabled and remain disabled during the elimination period.

"you meet the notice and proof of claim requirements for disability while your life insurance is in effect or within three months after it ends.

"your claim is approved by Unum.

"After we approve your claim, Unum does not require further premium payments for you while you remain disabled according to the terms and provisions of the plan.

"Your life insurance amount will not increase while your life insurance premiums are being waived. Your life insurance amount will reduce or cease at any time it would reduce or cease if you had not been disabled."

In May 2012, Mr. Miller was diagnosed with brain cancer and soon became unable to perform the duties of his job. Mrs. Miller's affidavit states that when the Millers discovered that Mr. Miller's condition was terminal, they "sought to obtain information about [Mr. Miller's] life insurance benefit and all other benefits that might be available." The Millers did not have a copy of the policy or the summary of benefits at that time. On March 28, 2013, the Millers and Ed Bluemly, Mrs. Miller's brother-in-law, met with Sandy Roberts, the assistant benefit administrator and the pension coordinator for the Jefferson County Personnel Board, and Alice Crutchfield, a personnel technician for the Jefferson County Personnel Board, to learn about the benefits available to Mr. Miller. In her affidavit, Mrs. Miller states the following concerning that meeting:

"At that meeting, we were told that if [Mr. Miller] could not return to work, he would have to ‘retire.’ We wanted to know how we could keep his group life insurance. We were told by [Roberts and Crutchfield], without any hesitation, that the only option we had was to convert the life insurance to retiree life insurance. That meant that the life insurance level of coverage at $151,000.00 would drop to $50,000.00. We did not like this, but [Roberts and Crutchfield] were very clear and firm in their statements. They provided forms and indicated to me and [Mr. Miller] that [Mr. Miller] would have to sign the forms to convert the policy.

"[Mr. Miller] and I went over the forms and he signed them before leaving the meeting. ... However, [Roberts and Crutchfield] spoke very clearly as if they knew what they were doing and as if they were the authority on the subject for the City.

"I still wanted a copy of the policy or certificate, as did my brother-in-law, Ed Bluemly, and we both requested a copy of the policy. [Roberts and Crutchfield] told us there was not a copy of the policy or certificate. They could not obtain one, nor could they tell us how to obtain one."¹

Also concerning the March 28, 2013, meeting, Roberts's affidavit states that she "did hear ... Crutchfield referencing UNUM Life Insurance products and specifically telling [the Millers] that their life insurance policy was with Unum Insurance." Roberts's affidavit also states that she did not recall "any persons requesting a copy of an insurance plan from me during the meeting on or about March 28, 2013, nor do I recall any other person requesting an insurance plan from me on behalf of the Millers at any time after this meeting." Nothing in Roberts's affidavit disputed Mrs. Miller's and Bluemly's assertion that Roberts and Crutchfield told the Millers that they had to convert Mr. Miller's life insurance from active-employee to retiree life insurance. Crutchfield's affidavit states that, at the March 28, 2013, meeting, Crutchfield "referenced Unum Life Insurance beneficiary forms" and that no one "request[ed] a copy of a life insurance policy." Crutchfield's affidavit further states that, after the March 28, 2013, meeting, she "never had any discussions with [the Millers] concerning life insurance benefits and/or life insurance policies" and that the Millers never requested "any life insurance policy and/or certificate of insurance." Nothing in Crutchfield's affidavit disputed Mrs. Miller's assertion that Roberts and Crutchfield told the Millers that they had to convert Mr. Miller's life insurance from active-employee to retiree life insurance.

After the meeting, the Millers continued to try to obtain a copy of the policy. To this end, the Millers asked several of Mr. Miller's coworkers if they had a copy of the policy and, if so, if they would share it with the Millers. On April 11, 2014, a coworker of Mr. Miller's gave Mrs. Miller a copy of "a supplemental group life policy" from Unum under which Mr. Miller's coworker had coverage; it is undisputed that that supplemental group life policy did not apply to Mr. Miller.

On May 5, 2014, Mr. Miller died.

In November 2014, Mrs. Miller's attorney sent the City a letter requesting a copy of the policy. On November 24, 2014, Peggy Polk, director of the City's office of personnel, sent Mrs. Miller's attorney a letter and a copy of the summary of the benefits of the policy. The subject line of Polk's letter to Mrs. Miller's attorney stated: "Life Insurance Errors as to Robert [M]iller (Deceased)." Mrs. Miller's affidavit states that the letter from Polk was not received until "early December 2014." Mrs. Miller's affidavit states that, upon reviewing the summary of benefits, the Millers learned that the policy included "a disability waiver of premium benefit." Mrs. Miller's affidavit further states:

"It appears that [Mr. Miller] and I were misinformed by Sandy Roberts and Alice Crutchfield as to the existence of the disability waiver of premium benefit. This benefit would have saved us from having to pay for ‘retiree life insurance’ and [Mr. Miller] should have instead been able to keep the full policy benefit of $151,000.00, at no cost to us, rather than just $50,000.00."

The City defendants do not dispute the accuracy of this portion of Mrs. Miller's affidavit.

On January 16, 2015, Mrs. Miller filed a claim with the City alleging that Roberts and Crutchfield had been negligent in failing to inform the Millers "as to the existence of the disability waiver of premium benefit" and requesting $101,000. In a letter to the City accompanying Mrs. Miller's claim, Mrs. Miller's attorney stated that Mrs. Miller "does not contend she will be damaged unless Unum refuses to undo or correct the issues involved in this matter." The letter also stated:

"We will be sending a copy of this also to Unum to request and demand that they pay the full life insurance proceeds which should have been paid, but for the incorrect information being provided [by Roberts and Crutchfield]. In any event, it appears to be prudent to provide this claim notwithstanding. We will be working with Unum to accomplish this and if this is not successful we will let the City of Birmingham know."

Unum denied Mrs. Miller's request; Unum was under no obligation to honor Mrs. Miller's request because Mr. Miller had voluntarily converted his life insurance to "retiree life insurance" and Unum acted accordingly.

On May 4, 2015, Mrs. Miller sued the City defendants, alleging one claim of misrepresentation. The complaint alleged that the City defendants "made false representations as to material facts as to the amount of life insurance Mr. Miller was allowed to keep in place" and that "these representations were reckless, wanton, grossly negligent, and/or negligent." The complaint further alleged that Mrs. Miller "reasonably relied on these representations and had no...