Wilson v. Coman
| Decision Date | 20 August 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV.A. 03-A-21-N.,CIV.A. 03-A-21-N. |
| Citation | 284 F.Supp.2d 1319 |
| Parties | Betty WILSON, Plaintiff, v. Albert Russell "Chip" COMAN, H. Dwight Bostick, II, Loyal American Life Insurance Company, and The Benefit Source, Inc., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Alabama |
Page 1319
v.
Albert Russell "Chip" COMAN, H. Dwight Bostick, II, Loyal American Life Insurance Company, and The Benefit Source, Inc., Defendants.
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COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
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Vernon L. Wells, II, Barry A. Brock, Walston Wells Anderson & Bains LLP, Birmingham, AL, Randall Stark Haynes, Larry Wade Morris, Nancy L. Eady, Morris, Haynes & Hornsby, Alexander City, AL, for plaintiff.
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Robert William Bradford, Jr., Jayne Leslie Harrell, Hill, Hill, Carter, Franco, Cole & Black, Montgomery, AL, William C. Wood, Jr., Matthew W. Robinett, Norman, Wood, Kendrick & Turner, Charles D. Stewart, Taffi S. Stewart, Spain & Gillon, L.L.C., Birmingham, AL, for defendants.
ALBRITTON, Chief Judge.
This cause is before the court on Plaintiff's Motion to Remand (Doc. # 10), filed on February 7, 2003. On February 21, 2003, this court entered an Order setting a briefing schedule for Plaintiff's Motion to Remand that was to commence following the completion of six weeks of discovery on issues involving this court's jurisdiction. The briefing schedule encompassed not only this case, but also eight companion cases involving several of the defendants in this case.1 At each stage of the briefing schedule, the plaintiffs and the defendants only filed one brief, i.e. the briefs for the plaintiffs are identical in each of the nine cases. Each defendant likewise only filed one brief and filed a copy in each case in which the defendant was involved. Briefing is complete, and the cases are under submission.
For the purposes of this opinion, the court will address only the issues raised in the instant case, Wilson v. Coman. The applicability, if any, of the court's conclusions in this case will be discussed in subsequent opinions in each of the other eight cases.
The Plaintiff, Betty Wilson ("Wilson"), filed this civil action originally in the Circuit Court for Coosa County, Alabama. In her Complaint, Wilson brings state law claims against the Defendant for negligence and/or wantonness, negligent procurement, fraud, suppression, negligent and/or wanton hiring, training, and/or supervision, and conspiracy to defraud. All of the Defendants received service of process except The Benefit Source, Inc. ("TBS"). Wilson has yet to effect service of process on TBS. Defendant Loyal American Life Insurance Company ("Loyal American") removed the case to this court on the basis of federal question jurisdiction. The remaining Defendants who had received service of process, Albert Russell "Chip" Coman ("Coman") and H. Dwight Bostick, II ("Bostick"), joined Loyal American in its removal of the case to federal court. Wilson then filed the instant Motion to Remand.
Wilson's claims involve a universal life insurance policy that she purchased from Loyal American through her employer, Madix, Inc. The Defendants contend that the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq., completely preempts Wilson's state law claims and allows the Defendants to remove this case to federal court on the basis of federal question jurisdiction. Wilson argues that her claims do not provide a basis for federal question jurisdiction and asks this court to remand her case to state court.
After carefully and thoroughly reviewing the parties' submissions, the court concludes
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that Wilson's Motion to Remand is due to be DENIED.
Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. See Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 375, 114 S.Ct. 1673, 128 L.Ed.2d 391 (1994); Burns v. Windsor Ins. Co., 31 F.3d 1092, 1095 (11th Cir.1994); Wymbs v. Republican State Executive Comm., 719 F.2d 1072, 1076 (11th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1103, 104 S.Ct. 1600, 80 L.Ed.2d 131 (1984). They may only hear cases that they have been authorized to hear by the Constitution or the Congress of the United States. See Kokkonen, 511 U.S. at 377, 114 S.Ct. 1673. A federal court has an independent obligation to review its authority to hear a case prior to proceeding to the merits of the case. Mirage Resorts, Inc. v. Quiet Nacelle Corp., 206 F.3d 1398, 1400 (11th Cir.2000). The Eleventh Circuit favors remand of removed cases where federal jurisdiction is not absolutely clear. See Burns, 31 F.3d at 1095.
The submissions of the parties established the following facts:
Wilson is an employee of Madix, Inc. ("Madix"), a company that manufactures store fixtures at a plant in Goodwater, Alabama. Madix employs approximately 544 employees at its facilities in Alabama. As part of its employee benefits programs, Madix offered "voluntary benefits" to its employees.2 Among the "voluntary benefits" were universal life insurance, cancer insurance, dental insurance, and disability insurance. Once an employee has been employed by Madix for ninety days, the employee becomes eligible to participate in the "voluntary benefits" program.
Madix's employee benefits programs are administered by the Madix Benefits Committee ("the Committee"). Members of the Committee are: Lenora Hannum ("Hannum"), Division Controller;3 Joe Chastain ("Chastain"), Human Resources Manager; Nancy Higgins ("Higgins"), Benefits Manager; and Justin Saunders, a Madix executive at Madix's Texas facility. Hannum, Chastain, and Higgins are employed at Madix's Alabama manufacturing plants. During the fall of each year, the Committee holds a meeting to review the benefits offered to employees. The purpose of the meeting is two-fold. The Committee wants both to have a benefits program that can be efficiently operated with Madix's payroll procedures and to have the "best overall package" of benefits available to Madix's employees. Hannum Deposition, p. 38, lines 2-7.
In 2000, the Committee began to review Madix's current offering of voluntary benefits. At that time, Madix's voluntary benefits were provided by Southern Insurance through broker Jerry Ray ("Ray"). The Committee was displeased with Southern Insurance's service and believed that Ray was overselling insurance to Madix employees. Id. at p. 25, lines 3-7. The Committee decided to find another source for its voluntary employee benefits program for the next year. The Committee turned to Bostick and his company, The Bostick Group, LLC, for help in finding a new benefits provider to replace Ray and Southern Insurance. In 2000, Bostick and Madix already had a working relationship, for Bostick was Madix's broker for stop/loss insurance and dental insurance. Id. at p. 21, lines 13-22; p. 83, lines 1-6. In late May or early June of 2000, Bostick
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met with the Committee for the purpose of reviewing Madix's current stop/loss insurance plan. Bostick Deposition, p. 25, lines 11-16. During the meeting, the Committee asked Bostick to research alternative providers of voluntary benefits. Id. at p. 29, line 8. On June 7, 2000, Madix sent Bostick documents that described the current voluntary benefits that Madix made available to its employees. See Madix Letter of June 7, 2000, to Bostick, attached as Exh. 4, to Defendant Bostick's Evidentiary Submission, Doc. # 21 ("Bostick Submission"). Bostick had requested the information so that he could research and compare alternatives to Southern Insurance.
After making some inquiries in the summer of 2000, Bostick met Eugene "Bud" Porter ("Porter") through a business acquaintance. Porter owns TBS. In the employee benefits market, TBS is a communication and enrollment firm. A client hires a communication and enrollment firm such as TBS to design and implement benefits plans, to communicate those plans to the client's employees, to come to the client's location and enroll the client's employees in the benefits program if the employees choose to purchase the voluntary benefits, and to handle the billing for the voluntary benefits. Bostick Deposition, p. 44, lines 2-11. During the meeting, Porter gave a presentation to Bostick detailing TBS's business and the advantages to a company that deals with TBS. Id. After the meeting, Bostick called a TBS customer as a reference, and the customer gave a positive report on TBS. Id. at p. 45, lines 1-7.
Bostick decided to introduce Porter and TBS to Madix. In mid-July 2000, the Committee met with Bostick, Porter, and Christy Taylor ("Taylor"), also of TBS. Bostick Deposition, p. 47, lines 15-23. Porter and Taylor gave a computer presentation to the Committee that covered TBS's potential role in designing and implementing a new voluntary benefits plan for Madix. Hannum testified in her deposition that the Committee was "impressed with [TBS's] presentation" and "excited that [the Committee would] not ... have to visit with each employee" because TBS "would take that responsibility and convey what [the Committee] asked them to." Hannum Deposition, p. 20, line 20 to p. 21, line 2.
During the late summer of 2000, TBS and the Committee met to select the benefits products that would be offered to employees during the annual enrollment period. According to Hannum, the Committee and TBS met at least twice. Hannum Deposition, p. 65, lines 15-21. During the meetings, TBS showed a Benefits Communication Proposal to the Committee which outlined the various voluntary benefits and provided a "brief" on each benefit. Id. at p. 55, lines 8-14. In the initial proposal, the individual "briefs" described the aspects of: 1) group short term disability benefit; 2) universal life benefit; 3) term life benefit, (each of the first three were underwritten by American Heritage Life); 4) accident benefit, underwritten by Continental American Insurance; and 5) cancer benefit, underwritten by Loyal American. See Benefits Communication Proposal, attached as Exh. 11, to Loyal American Life Insurance Company's Notice of Filing Evidentiary...
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