The Ninth Circuit today asked the Supreme Court to interpret California Insurance Code statutes concerning lapse and termination of life insurance policies “issued or delivered in this state.” In Pitt v. Metropolitan Tower Life Insurance Company, the federal court order frames the issue as, “Do California Insurance Code §§ 10113.71 and 10113.72 apply to life insurance policies originally issued or delivered in another state but maintained by a policy owner in California?”
The case involves a $2,000,000 life insurance policy the plaintiff’s decedent bought in Illinois, over a decade before he and the plaintiff moved to California and notified the insurance company of the move. Two years after the move, the decedent failed to make a premium payment and he received a notice the policy had lapsed. He died two years later.
The Ninth Circuit order tells the Supreme Court the plaintiff would have a breach of contract claim if the California statutes apply, otherwise all of her claims fail. The order also says that California Court of Appeal opinions have interpreted the phrase “issued or delivered” in statutes concerning auto policies, but finds “some tension” in those decisions.
Video of the Ninth Circuit oral argument in the case is here. The possibility of referring the case to the Supreme Court didn’t arise until late in the appellee’s argument.
This is the Ninth Circuit’s first request for Supreme Court help in over a year.
The Supreme Court should let the Ninth Circuit know by mid April — give or take — whether it will answer the question. The Supreme Court historically says “yes” in most cases, but it has gotten a bit pickier of late. It has turned down two of the last three Ninth Circuit requests. In the long run, however, the court has been extremely accommodating, having granted 21 of the last 24 requests, dating back to July 2018. Before the most recent rejections (in August 2023 and April 2024), the lone denial over the past five years had been in October 2019.
Related:
Asked and answered: California Supreme Court responses to Ninth Circuit questions
The constitutionality of the Supreme Court answering the Ninth Circuit’s legal questions
Ask not what the Supreme Court can do for the Ninth Circuit
Justice Kruger and Judge Owens talk about the Supreme Court answering Ninth Circuit questions
The shadow docket . . . of California’s Supreme Court, part 2
