Filed: Mar. 19, 2013
Latest Update: Mar. 28, 2017
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 12-1898 DEANNA JEAN CHEETHAM, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS & CONDUCTORS MUTUAL PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION, a/k/a LECMPA, Defendant - Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, at Huntington. Robert C. Chambers, District Judge. (3:12-cv-00388) Submitted: January 30, 2013 Decided: March 19, 2013 Before GREGORY, SHEDD, and KEENAN, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by un
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 12-1898 DEANNA JEAN CHEETHAM, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS & CONDUCTORS MUTUAL PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION, a/k/a LECMPA, Defendant - Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, at Huntington. Robert C. Chambers, District Judge. (3:12-cv-00388) Submitted: January 30, 2013 Decided: March 19, 2013 Before GREGORY, SHEDD, and KEENAN, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unp..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 12-1898
DEANNA JEAN CHEETHAM,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
v.
LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS & CONDUCTORS MUTUAL PROTECTIVE
ASSOCIATION, a/k/a LECMPA,
Defendant - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern
District of West Virginia, at Huntington. Robert C. Chambers,
District Judge. (3:12-cv-00388)
Submitted: January 30, 2013 Decided: March 19, 2013
Before GREGORY, SHEDD, and KEENAN, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Gregory G. Paul, MORGAN & PAUL, PLLC, Sewickley, Pennsylvania,
for Appellant. Jeffrey M. Wakefield, Erica M. Baumgras,
FLAHERTY SENSABAUGH BONASSO PLLC, Charleston, West Virginia, for
Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Deanna Jean Cheetham appeals the district court’s
order granting Locomotive Engineers & Conductors Mutual
Protective Association’s (“LECMPA”) motion to dismiss her claim
for insurance benefits. * See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). We
affirm.
This court reviews de novo a district court’s order
dismissing a complaint for failure to state a claim, assuming
that all well-pleaded nonconclusory factual allegations in the
complaint are true. Aziz v. Alcolac, Inc.,
658 F.3d 388, 391
(4th Cir. 2011). Statements of bare legal conclusions, however,
“are not entitled to the assumption of truth” and are
insufficient to state a claim. Ashcroft v. Iqbal,
556 U.S. 662,
664 (2009).
Cheetham does not dispute that the terms of her
insurance policy provided that the cause of termination assigned
*
By failing to challenge in her brief the district court’s
application of Michigan law or the court’s dismissal of her
statutory and common law bad faith claims, Cheetham has
forfeited appellate review of those issues. See Wahi v.
Charleston Area Med. Ctr., Inc.,
562 F.3d 599, 607 (4th Cir.
2009) (limiting appellate review to arguments raised in brief in
accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 28(a)(9)(A)). We also decline
to consider Cheetham’s argument that the doctrine of equitable
estoppel prevents LECMPA from denying her benefits under the
policy. See United States v. Edwards,
666 F.3d 877, 887 (4th
Cir. 2011) (declining to address arguments raised for first time
on appeal).
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by her employer conclusively established LECMPA’s liability,
that her employer determined the cause for her termination was
insubordination, or that the policy did not cover termination
for insubordination. Although Cheetham asserts that it was
manifestly unjust for the district court to allow LECMPA to deny
her benefits when she had prevailed in a wrongful termination
action, we have found no authority under Michigan law to create
an exception to the plain language of Cheetham’s insurance
policy. See Palmer v. Locomotive Eng’rs’ & Conductors’ Mut.
Protective Ass’n,
155 N.W. 357, 357 (Mich. 1915) (prohibiting
employee with similar policy from admitting evidence rebutting
employer-assigned cause of termination); Stitt v. Locomotive
Eng’rs’ Mut. Protective Ass’n,
142 N.W. 1110, 1113 (Mich. 1913)
(holding that, although similar policy “is not favorable to the
insured,” cause assigned by employer “cannot be contradicted”).
We also reject Cheetham’s argument that she should be awarded
benefits because a person should not receive indemnity for the
consequences of his or her own wrongdoing. This argument,
whatever its merit in the abstract, is inapt under the facts of
this case, as the entity violating the law, Cheetham’s employer,
was not a party to the insurance contract.
Finding no reversible error, we affirm the district
court’s dismissal of Cheetham’s claim for benefits. We dispense
with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are
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adequately presented in the materials before this Court and
argument would not aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
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