ST. LOUIS – U.S. Magistrate Judge Abbie Crites-Leoni has granted a move by a third-party defendant to move litigation to the Northern District of Illinois.
According to Crites-Leoni's April 5 ruling, as a third party, Platinum Supplemental Insurance had sought to transfer plaintiff Thomas W. Grisham’s 2016 breach of contract, vexatious refusal to pay and defamation suit against Guarantee Trust Life Insurance (GTL) arguing that the two insurers have litigated aspects of their business relationship on two prior occasions.
In both of those cases, confidential settlement agreements were reached, and in the Grisham matter, Platinum argued that any claims GTL has arising out of Platinum's performance under marketing agreements have been resolved in the prior litigation.
Grisham's lawsuit claims that GTL wrongfully denied his claims for benefits in 2015 after he was diagnosed with mantel cell lymphoma in 2014, which he claims should have triggered benefits under his policy.
GTL's third-party complaint against Platinum claims that GTL is entitled to contractual indemnification and contribution from Platinum for any of its actions contributing to the loss alleged by Grisham.
In the ruling, Crites-Leoni found that if there is a valid forum-selection clause to consider, a district court must adjust the "usual" analysis in a number of ways.
She held that the forum selection clause at issue is contained in the insurers' settlement agreement which was filed under seal.
"As an initial matter, the court finds that the forum selection clause, providing that disputes 'shall be resolved' by filing suit in the Northern District of Illinois... is mandatory rather than permissive," she wrote.
Crites-Leoni agreed that the issue of whether the third party complaint is subject to the settlement agreement is an issue that should be decided by the Northern District of Illinois.
She held that GTL failed to demonstrate that "'extraordinary circumstances unrelated to the convenience of the parties clearly disfavor a transfer'."