Corrado v. Life Investors Ins. Co., No. 14-3359 (8th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff, the executrix of her husband's estate, along with her husband's former business, Federal City, filed suit against Life Investors for conversion and tortious interference with a contract. On appeal, plaintiffs challenged the district court's dismissal of the complaint. The court concluded that this action is not barred by claim preclusion because the claims brought are not based upon the same cause of action as the prior suit. In this case, plaintiffs allege claims for conversion and tortious interference with contract against Life Investors because Life Investors removed over $400,000 from certain accounts to cover expenses above the alleged debt plaintiffs owed Life Investors. Life Investors removed these funds after the decision in the Maryland district court. The Maryland court never determined that plaintiffs lacked any interest in the assets in the accounts. Instead, it decided that plaintiffs were time-barred from bringing claims from a 2000 request for withdrawal of the assets and that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq., claims were either time-barred or failed to allege a violation of ERISA law. Similarly, the claim is not barred by issue preclusion. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded.
Court Description: Shepherd, Author, with Chief Judge Riley and Loken, Circuit Judges. Civil Case - diversity. Dismissal of complaint for conversion and tortious interference with a contract as barred on preclusion grounds is reversed. Maryland district court did not confront issue whether Life Investors converted amounts in excess of the claimed debt, the issue presented in this case, namely the removal of money from accounts to cover expenses above the alleged debt. Thus, the action is not barred by claim preclusion or issue preclusion.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.