Lazar v. Kroncke, No. 15-15078 (9th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff filed suit challenging the constitutionality of Arizona's revocation-on-divorce (ROD) statute after she remained the beneficiary of her ex-husband's IRA account when he died. The Ninth Circuit held that the district court correctly determined that an Arizona state court would disregard the choice-of-law provision in the Plan and instead apply Arizona's ROD statute; the application of the ROD statute was not preempted by federal statutes and regulations governing IRAs; the district courts erred when they denied plaintiff standing; and the California district court did not abuse its discretion in transferring the case to Arizona under 28 U.S.C. 1406(a) on the grounds that it lacked personal jurisdiction over the Estate. Although it disagreed with the district court's holding that plaintiff lacked standing, the panel affirmed the dismissal of the constitutional challenge to the application of Arizona's ROD statute in the allocation of the proceeds of the ex-husband's IRA.
Court Description: Revocation-on-Divorce Statute / Contracts Clause The panel affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a constitutional challenge to the application of Arizona’s revocation-on-divorce statute in the allocation of the proceeds of the plaintiff’s ex-husband’s individual retirement account following his death. The panel affirmed the district court’s conclusion that an Arizona state court would disregard the IRA’s choice of law provision and instead apply Arizona’s revocation-on- divorce statute. The panel held that the application of the Arizona statute was not preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act or other federal statutes and regulations governing IRAs. LAZAR V. KRONCKE 3 The panel reversed the district court’s ruling that the plaintiff lacked standing to bring her constitutional challenge under the Contracts Clause because, as a designated beneficiary, she possessed only an expectation interest in the IRA. The panel held that the plaintiff had standing because Arizona’s revocation-on-divorce statute operated to extinguish her valid expectancy interest in the IRA. This injury was actual, concrete, and particularized, and a ruling in the plaintiff’s favor would redress her injury. The panel held that the Contracts Clause challenge nonetheless failed on the merits. The revocation-on-divorce statute was enacted after the IRA was established. Agreeing with the Tenth Circuit, the panel concluded that this change in state law did not operate as a substantial impairment of a contractual relationship because the plaintiff never possessed a vested contractual right. The panel held that the California district court in which the action was filed did not abuse its discretion in transferring the case to Arizona based on a lack of personal jurisdiction over the estate of the plaintiff’s ex-husband. The panel also concluded that the plaintiff waived a dormant Commerce Clause claim, and the district court did not abuse its discretion in staying discovery.
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.