Filed: Aug. 12, 2015
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: FILED NOT FOR PUBLICATION AUG 12 2015 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT BEATRICE ORKIN GOTTLIEB, on No. 13-56227 behalf of herself and others similarly situated, D.C. No. 2:11-cv-02203-GHK- VBK Plaintiff - Appellee, v. MEMORANDUM* CONSECO SENIOR HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY, DBA Senior Health Insurance Company of Pennsylvania and SHIP SENIOR HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY, DBA Senior Health Insurance Company of Pennsylvania, Defendants, and SE
Summary: FILED NOT FOR PUBLICATION AUG 12 2015 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT BEATRICE ORKIN GOTTLIEB, on No. 13-56227 behalf of herself and others similarly situated, D.C. No. 2:11-cv-02203-GHK- VBK Plaintiff - Appellee, v. MEMORANDUM* CONSECO SENIOR HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY, DBA Senior Health Insurance Company of Pennsylvania and SHIP SENIOR HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY, DBA Senior Health Insurance Company of Pennsylvania, Defendants, and SEN..
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FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
AUG 12 2015
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
BEATRICE ORKIN GOTTLIEB, on No. 13-56227
behalf of herself and others similarly
situated, D.C. No. 2:11-cv-02203-GHK-
VBK
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v. MEMORANDUM*
CONSECO SENIOR HEALTH
INSURANCE COMPANY, DBA Senior
Health Insurance Company of
Pennsylvania and SHIP SENIOR
HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY,
DBA Senior Health Insurance Company of
Pennsylvania,
Defendants,
and
SENIOR HEALTH INSURANCE
COMPANY OF PENNSYLVANIA,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Victor B. Kenton, Magistrate Judge, Presiding
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
-2-
Argued and Submitted August 4, 2015
Pasadena, California
Before: D.W. NELSON, SILVERMAN and WARDLAW, Circuit Judges.
Senior Health Insurance Company of Pennsylvania (“SHIP”) appeals the
district court’s award of attorneys’ fees under California Code of Civil Procedure §
1021.5 to Beatrice Orkin Gottlieb. We have jurisdiction to review the district
court’s final order under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Reviewing the award for an abuse of
discretion, Fischel v. Equitable Life Assur. Soc’y of U.S.,
307 F.3d 997, 1005 (9th
Cir. 2002), we affirm.
Gottlieb, a California resident, brought a nationwide class action against
SHIP in California, seeking rescission of an improper endorsement that had been
issued to her and other policyholders. Given SHIP’s contacts in California and
California’s strong interest in the litigation the application of § 1021.5, California’s
private attorney general fee-shifting statute, to Gottlieb’s request for attorneys’ fees
from SHIP under such circumstances hardly was an extraterritorial application of
the law, nor did it violate SHIP’s due process rights. See Shutts v. Phillips
Petroleum Co.,
472 U.S. 797, 821-822 (1985).
Furthermore, Gottlieb’s suit satisfies each requirement under § 1021.5. As
the district court found, Gottlieb’s suit helped spur SHIP to rescind the offending
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endorsement, and she succeeded, via final settlement, in gaining an injunction
requiring SHIP to extend its practices in three states to the rest of the country. The
district court thus properly concluded that Gottlieb was a “successful party,” both
based on the injunction she obtained, and because she “notif[ied] [SHIP] of [her]
grievances and proposed remedies and [gave] [SHIP] the opportunity to meet [her]
demands within a reasonable time,” such that her efforts to secure the rescission of
the endorsement made her a “catalyst.” Graham v. DaimlerChrysler Corp.,
34 Cal.
4th 553, 577 (Cal. 2004), as modified (Jan. 12, 2005).1 Further, the district court
did not abuse its discretion in concluding that between the rescission and the later
injunction, Gottlieb’s suit provided a significant benefit to a large class of persons.
Finally, SHIP did not specifically argue to the district court that the award did not
satisfy the element of § 1021.5 requiring that “the necessity and financial burden of
private enforcement . . . [be] such as to make the award appropriate,” and so has
waived that argument on appeal. See Hillis v. Heineman,
626 F.3d 1014, 1019 (9th
Cir. 2010).
1
In coming to this conclusion, the court relies on the version of Graham in
the California Reports, rather than on Westlaw’s Pacific Reporter version, which
apparently does not include modifications made after the decision’s original
publication.
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The district court also did not abuse its discretion in awarding Gottlieb the
full amount of attorneys’ fees she sought. The record reflects that her attorneys
successfully pursued a fairly complex class action case, which resulted in SHIP
rescinding the endorsement and the district court entering an injunction that
required SHIP to expand an insured-friendly policy interpretation to the whole
country. The time expended and number of attorneys staffed for court appearances
and depositions was hardly unreasonable in bringing such an effort to a successful
end. Nor, as the district court properly found, were Gottlieb’s attorneys required to
segregate their billing on her individual claims from that in the class action.
Although “[a] court may legitimately restrict the award to only that portion of the
attorneys’ efforts that furthered the litigation of issues of public importance,” such
restriction is nowhere required, and Gottlieb’s individual claims, and her role as
class representative, were sufficiently tied up with the rest of the litigation that
such segregation would have been impracticable. In re Conservatorship of
Whitley,
50 Cal. 4th 1206, 1226 (2010) (emphasis added).
AFFIRMED.