Harrington v. EquiTrust Life Ins., No. 12-17119 (9th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff filed a putative class action against EquiTrust, alleging that EquiTrust's marketing of the sale of annuities violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, 18 U.S.C. 1962(c), and Arizona law. The district court granted EquiTrust's motion for summary judgment but declined to award costs. In this case, plaintiff's complaint is based entirely on the language of the annuity contract and the EquiTrust marketing materials. The district court found, and the court agreed, that there were no actionable predicate acts regarding the premium bonus, the market value adjustment, nor the nonforfeiture law. The court concluded, however, that the district court must explain a denial of an award of costs to the prevailing party. Because the district court failed to do so here, the court vacated the order denying costs and remanded for further proceedings. The court affirmed the grant of summary judgment.
Court Description: RICO. The panel affirmed the district court’s summary judgment and vacated its denial of costs in a putative class action alleging violations of federal and state law in the sale of annuities. Affirming the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant on a RICO claim, the panel held that the plaintiff failed to establish any actionable predicate acts in alleged fraudulent schemes concerning the promise of premium bonuses, the application of the annuity’s market value adjustment, or the circumvention of state nonforfeiture laws. The panel also affirmed the district court’s summary judgment on state-law claims. Vacating the unexplained denial of costs, the panel remanded to allow the district court either to award costs or to state its reasons for denying them.
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