Supreme Court Report

Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

Estate of David Maurice, et al. v. Life Insurance Company of North America

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 18-55944, 18-55981, 18-56558 · judgment February 5, 2020


Certiorari denied · November 9, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 4% cert probability

Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Ninth Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and counsel who has filed here before, and down for a business respondent.

Question presented

The following question is presented: Whether the court below erred by refusing to apply Kentucky Ass’n of Health Plans, Inc. v. Miller, 538 U.S. 329 (2003) to determine whether the California “proximate cause” standard for accidental loss insurance policies was saved from ERISA preemption under 29 U.S.C. § 1144(b)(2)(A) and instead relying on an older Ninth Circuit decision which, in direct conflict with Miller, holds that all state laws of insurance policy interpretation are automatically preempted.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Russell G. Petti
Law Offices of Russell G. Petti

For respondent
Daniel W. Maguire
Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Nov 09 2020
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Oct 21 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/6/2020.
  3. Oct 13 2020
    Waiver of right of respondent Life Insurance Company of North America to respond filed.
  4. Sep 10 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 15, 2020)