Resource Life Ins. Co. v. Buckner

The trial court did not err in certifying the two classes at issue: 1 insureds, whose loans terminated early, but who did not receive a refund of unearned premiums and 2 all current and former owners of insurer's credit insurance policies, excluding those, who policies expired without early loan termination.

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In this class action, the putative class members are all those individuals who purchased credit life or credit disability insurance1 from Resource Life Insurance Co. and who may be owed a refund from Resource Life for unearned premiums on those policies.2 The underlying issue in the case is whether Resource Life’s failure to refund unearned premiums constituted a breach of the insurance contract and/or constituted a negligent or willful breach of a legal duty owed its insureds. Following a class discovery period that exceeded five years and involved numerous discovery disputes, Resource Life now appeals from several orders of the trial court, asserting that the trial court erred: 1 in denying Resource Life’s motion for partial summary judgment; 2 in holding both that written notice was not a condition precedent to its obligation to refund unearned premiums and that, alternatively, the filing of this lawsuit satisfied the written notice provision in the Resource Life policies as to all putative class members; 3 in certifying two nationwide classes; 4 in sanctioning Resource Life for failing to comply with discovery orders and for giving false responses to discovery requests; 5 in failing to exercise independent judgment in entering certain orders; 6 in striking certain affidavits that Resource Life filed in opposition to the class certification motion; and 7 in ruling that certain documents were not privileged and were therefore discoverable. Discerning no error, we affirm. The Resource Life Policies

The record shows that Resource Life credit insurance policies were sold by automobile dealers, who acted as Resource Life’s agents.3 The term of any given policy was synonymous with the term of the loan it covered —i.e., the insurance is in effect only so long as money remains due on the loan. Premiums are calculated based on the length of the loan. Rather than being paid on a quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis, however, these premiums were paid in their entirety, at the time the insured obtained his or her car loan.

Resource Life Ins. Co. v. Buckner

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