GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

Notable Cases

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October 9, 2014 - Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama

• Plaintiff sued insurer and agent alleging negligence, wantonness, fraud and suppression, and deceit after his application for term life insurance was declined for health reasons, allegedly leaving the Plaintiff without life insurance, and now uninsurable.
• After the required premium to keep his universal life policy in effect more than doubled, Plaintiff applied for term life insurance. Plaintiff canceled the universal life policy and applied for a term life policy.
• Through discovery, Gray & Associates, LLC learned that the cash value of the universal life policy, which had accumulated over the years, had been withdrawn, leaving the Plaintiff without any cash value to earn interest to cover the rising cost of insurance.
• The Defendants, by and through Gray & Associates, LLC, moved for summary judgment arguing that the paper work signed by the Plaintiff explained the risks. The trial court granted Summary Judgment on all counts. No appeal has been taken.

Alfa Life Ins. Corp. v. Colza, So. 3d (Ala. 2014)

• Reversing and rendering a jury verdict in excess of $400,000 against Alfa Life Ins. Corp.
• Plaintiff/beneficiary alleged breach of contract, bad faith, fraud and suppression, negligent failure to procure, and estoppel in association with denial of benefits allegedly available through bound coverage or alternatively an oral contract.
• Insurance applicant passed away as a result of an accident, during the underwriting process, and before a policy was never issued.
• Upon completion of the underwriting process, Alfa had determined that the applicant had made a misrepresentation on the application which would have resulted in a rate up of the policy as applied for.
• As her basis for fraud and negligent procurement, Plaintiff claimed that agent had made an oral misrepresentation to the applicant that coverage was immediately available.
• Upholding the Court's longstanding principle that a party, otherwise able to read and understand the English language, is presumed to have read and understood the written documents they receive, the Court found that the documents received by the applicant plainly indicated that the agent was not authorized to modify the terms of the insurance contract, and therefore could not create an oral contract.
• Because the written documents plainly stated conditions precedent to formation of a contract for insurance, the Plaintiff and the decedent could not have reasonably relied upon any alleged oral misrepresentation by the agent, and were therefore barred by the doctrine of contributory negligence on their negligent procurement claim. Because there was a clear basis upon which to deny the claim for benefits, Alfa could not be liable for bad faith failure to pay or investigate.

April 4, 2014 - Circuit Court of Dallas County, Alabama

• Plaintiff sued Defendant and others alleging fraud, harassment, and unjust enrichment surrounding Defendant's loan and a mortgage securing the loan on property which had been jointly owned with rights of survivorship between the plaintiffs' mother and father.
• Defendants, by and through Gray & Associates, LLC moved for and the trial court granted Summary Judgment on all counts. Following an appeal to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals, and briefing for the Defendants by Gray and Associates, LLC, the order was affirmed without an opinion.

March 18, 2014 (update) - Circuit Court of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

• The Plaintiff in this case demanded $500,000.00 alleging fraud, fraudulent suppression, negligent hiring, training and supervision, and wantonness.
• The Defendants, by and through Gray & Associates, LLC, won on Summary Judgment on all counts.
• Following Plaintiff's appeal to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals, the Court affirmed the ruling on all counts but one. See, Brown v. First Fed. Bank, 95 So. 3d 803 (Ala. Civ. App. 2012), reh'g denied (May 18, 2012).
• Following remand to the trial court for further proceedings on the sole remaining count, the Defendants successfully moved to compel the production of certain medical records.
• Plaintiff petitioned the Alabama Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus concerning the medical records, and the petition was denied without opinion.
• Following receipt of the medical records, Defendants, by and through Gray & Associates, LLC, moved for Summary Judgment a second time, and once again the trial court granted the Rule 56 motion. No appeal was taken from that decision.

November 4, 2013 - Circuit Court of Dekalb County, Alabama

• Plaintiff sued Insurer and Agent alleging breach of contract, bad faith, fraud, and negligence after Insurer denied claim for proceeds of a life insurance policy. The application for the policy contained several misrepresentations concerning the insured's health condition at the time of the application, including conditions that appeared to have ultimately led to the death of the insured.
• Defendant, by and through Gray & Associates, LLC moved for Summary Judgment which was granted on all counts. No Appeal was taken.

May 12, 2012 - Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama

• Plaintiff sued Defendant alleging breach of contract and bad faith, in relation to claim for uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage following Plaintiff's accident with a Jefferson County Sherriff's Deputy on patrol.
• Defendants, by and through Gray & Associates, LLC, moved for a 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss, and the trial court granted the same. No appeal was taken.

March 19, 2012 - Circuit Court of Marshall County, Alabama.

• Gray & Associates, LLC was retained by Defendants and made an appearance late in the discovery phase just two months before the trial setting.
• The Plaintiff alleged that Defenant failed to issue a policy "just like the policy she had on her own home" on a triplex.
• Defendant placed the policy with another insurance carrier, which denied her claim for coverage when an uninhabited portion of the triplex was damaged from a leaky pipe; a peril not named in the named peril policy.
• After Gray & Associates, LLC's entry into the case, Defendant successfully moved for Summary Judgment, the trial court entering judgment in favor of the Defendant on all counts. No appeal was taken.

March 16, 2012 - Circuit Court of Etowah County, Alabama

• Plaintiff sued Insurance Agency and Agent alleging breach of contract and fraud. Agent, through agency, had placed plaintiff with third party insurer who denied claim after tree limb fell on Plaintiff's house.
• Defendant Insurance Agency and Agent, by and through Gray & associates, LLC, moved for Summary Judgment, and the trial court entered judgment in favor of the agency and agent on all counts. .

February 6, 2012 - Circuit Court of Jackson County, Alabama

• Plaintiff sued Defendant and insurer alleging breach of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress, outrage, willfulness, wantonness, negligence, undue influence, fraudulent concealment, lack of mental capacity, bad faith failure to investigate, in relation to Defendant's payment of life insurance proceeds to step children of widowered spouse, in accordance with decedent's change of beneficiary form.
• Plaintiff alleged that decedent was incompetent to execute a change of beneficiary form.
• The trial court converted Defendants 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss into a Rule 56 Motion for Summary Judgment, and ordered discovery.
• After limited discovery, the trial court granted Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment, filed by and through Gray & Associates, LLC, on all counts. No appeal was taken.

August 12, 2011 - Circuit Court of Walker County, Alabama

• Plaintiff sued Insurer and agent alleging Negligence, Breach of Fiduciary Duty, and Breach of Contract in relation to alleged failure by Defendant and Defendant's agent, to properly and adequately value Plaintiff's home prior to total loss resulting from a fire. Defendants, by and through Gray & Associates, LLC, moved to dismiss the case under Rule 12(b)(6), and the trial court granted the motion. No appeal was taken.

February 2, 2011 - Circuit Court of Shelby County, Alabama

• Plaintiff sued Defendant alleging conspiracy and breach of contract in association with lapse of insurance policy. The Defendant, by and through Gray & Associates, LLC, won on Summary Judgment on all counts.

January 28, 2011 - Circuit Court of Covington County, Alabama

• Plaintiff sued Defendant alleging breach of contract and bad faith in denial of Plaintiff’s claim for lost farm animals. Cause of loss was not covered under the policy. Interpretation of the contract language of the policy is a matter of law which the Circuit Court held did not cover the Plaintiff’s loss pled on the face of his complaint. Court dismissed the case with prejudice on Rule 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss, filed by and through Gray & Associates, LLC. No appeal was taken.

Ex Parte The Cincinnati Insurance Company, 51 So. 3d 298 (Ala. 2010)

• On petition for writ of mandamus, The Supreme Court granted mandamus, instructing the Circuit Court of Tallapoosa County to deny Plaintiff’s motion to compel discovery and to dismiss the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
• Under the “Filed Rate Doctrine” of Alabama, the Circuit Court of Tallapoosa County lacked subject matter jurisdiction.

October 26, 2009 - Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama

• Plaintiff sued Realtor and insurer after signing a settlement and release agreement. Complaint included allegation of Tortious Interference with Business Relationship, Breach of Contract, Fraud, Suppression, Negligence, and Wantonness. Defendants, by and through Gray & Associates, LLC, won on Motion for Summary Judgment which gave as its primary defense the fact that the Plaintiff had signed a settlement and release. Court ultimately held that Locklear Dodge City, Inc. v. Kimbrell, 703 So.2d 303, 306 (Ala. 1997) imposed notice of the contents of the terms of the signed agreement on the Plaintiff despite her allegation that she didn’t understand the agreement. No appeal was taken.

Southland Bank v. A & A Drywall Supply Co., Inc., 21 So. 3d 1196 (Ala. 2008)

• Reversing and rendering a jury verdict in excess of $7 Million against Southland Bank.
• Concerned issues of breach of contract, fraud, promissory fraud, negligence, negligent hiring, training, and supervision, and wantonness in association with failure to make a loan.

Alfa Life Ins. Corp. v. Lewis, 910 So. 2d 757 (Ala. 2005)

• Interlocutory appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court following denial of a Motion for Summary Judgment filed by the Defendant.
• Concerned the right of an insurer to rescind a life insurance policy based upon a misrepresentation, even if innocent, on the application for insurance due to the materiality of the misrepresentation.

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