Amerus Life Insurance v. Bank of America

We review the granting of a summary judgment in favor of cross-defendant and respondent Bank of America, N.A. (BofA), on the cross-complaint of appellant AmerUS Life Insurance Company (AmerUS) alleging a conversion cause of action. The underlying lawsuit arose out of a fraud perpetrated by defendant Richard Shear against an elderly widow named Maxine E. Levy, trustee of the Levy Family Trust. In the period from late 1995 through the summer of 1996, Shear, an independent life insurance agent, persuaded Levy to buy $450,000 in annuity life insurance policies from AmerUS. However, instead of remitting her three $150,000 checks to AmerUS, Shear deposited the checks made payable to AmerUS into his own corporate BofA accounts. As part of his fraud, Shear provided Levy with forged or fake annuity policies. After Levy died in 2001, the successor trustee and beneficiary, Norma Bememan (plaintiff), filed a claim on the policies with AmerUS. AmerUS denied the claims because it had no knowledge of any such policies. In July 2002, plaintiff sued Shear, AmerUS, BofA, and others on a variety of claims to recover the losses arising out of the wrongfully paid checks. Shear, however, could…