Plaintiff Mike Robinson and other selling agents of Commonwealth National Life Insurance Company (“Commonwealth”) brought claims against Guarantee Trust Life Insurance Company (“GTL”) arising from an Assumption Reinsurance Agreement entered into between Commonwealth and GTL. Under the reinsurance agreement, GTL assumed certain of Commonwealth’s Medicare supplement policies, as well as Commonwealth’s obligations to its agents who originally placed the policies. The plaintiffs alleged that through its agreements and in conspiracy with Commonwealth, GTL improperly avoided payment of commissions.
The district court granted partial summary judgment to GTL, finding that there was no evidence GTL was obligated to continue paying commissions on inactive or replaced Commonwealth policies, but found that there were genuine issues of fact pertaining to whether the plaintiffs were third party beneficiaries under the reinsurance agreement. GTL later moved again for partial summary judgment on such claims as tortious and fraudulent conspiracy and concealment, and the court found that those claims were unsupported by evidence of any prior knowledge of or conduct by GTL relating to the inactive and replacement Commonwealth policies, and granted partial summary judgment in GTL’s favor. Robinson v. Guarantee Trust Life Ins. Co., Case No. 2:00-CV-243-B-B, et al. (N.D. Miss. Sept. 22, 2008).
This post written by John Pitblado.