California Cases November 02, 2023: Allen v. Protective Life Ins. Co.

Case Description

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ORDER REQUIRING PARTIES TO FILE JOINT REPORT (Doc. 24)

On September 26, 2022, Plaintiffs Beverly R. Allen and the Danny and Beverly R. Allen Family Trust (“Plaintiffs”) filed this action in the Superior Court for the State of California, County of San Francisco. (Doc. 1). Defendants Protective Life Insurance Company and American General Life Insurance Company removed this action to the Northern District of California. Id . On January 5, 2023, the Northern District issued an order transferring the case to this Court. (Doc. 16).

On August 11, 2023, Plaintiffs filed a motion to amend the complaint. (Doc. 24). Among the proposed amendments, Plaintiffs seek to add class allegations against American General Life Insurance. Id . at 2. Plaintiffs assert Ms. Allen is “the proper candidate to bring class claims” against American General Life Insurance Company in light of the Southern District of California's denial of class certification in Moriarty v. American General Life Insurance Company, et al. , Case

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No. 3:17-cv-01709-BTMBGS earlier this year. Id . at 4-7.

On August 25, 2023, Defendants filed an opposition to Plaintiffs' motion to amend, and Plaintiffs filed a reply on September 1, 2023. (Docs. 25-26).

Subsequent to Plaintiffs' filing of the pending motion to amend in this action, on September 26, 2023, the Honorable District Judge Jinsook Ohta issued an order granting Plaintiff Michelle L. Moriarty leave to file a renewed motion for class certification. Moriarty , No. 3:17-cv-01709-BTMBGS, at (Doc. 316). The Moriarty Court also stayed the action and certified for interlocutory appeal its order granting Plaintiff summary judgment on the breach of contract cause of action. Id. at 6.

In light of the Moriarty Court's September 26 order and consistent with the “first-to-file doctrine,” the Court preliminarily believes that Plaintiffs' motion to amend should be held in abeyance pending resolution of the class certification issues by the Moriarty Court - to wit, if a class is certified in Moriarty , it would appear redundant and unnecessary to grant Plaintiffs' motion here to amend the complaint to add the same class claims.

Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, no later than November 13, 2023, the parties SHALL FILE a joint report of no more than eight (8) pages in which the parties address whether this Court should hold in abeyance Plaintiffs' pending motion to amend; if one or more parties believes the Court should rule on Plaintiffs' pending motion to amend before the class certification issue is resolved in Moriarty , the party should address why adding Plaintiffs' class claims in this action would not be unreasonably or impermissibly duplicative if they are certified in Moriarty .

IT IS SO ORDERED.