Wright

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

I.

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Franklin Y. Wright sues defendant Paul Revere Life Insurance Company to obtain benefits under a disability policy Paul Revere issued to him in 1994. Paul Revere now moves for summary judgment against Wright on all claims.

This case presents the Court with an extraordinary coincidence: Wright, a once-successful personal injury attorney, claims to have become physically disabled from the practice of law on December 19, 1997, the very same date that he was convicted of federal income tax evasion. (Compare DePew Decl. Exh. A (Timeline) with Wein-man Decl. Exh. G (Verdict)). Even more peculiar, he made no claim under his disability policy at the time, and, indeed, allowed his policy to lapse by failing to pay premiums due on the policy in August 1998 and by ignoring notices that he must cure his default to prevent his policy from lapsing. In November 1999, while suspended from the practice of law by the Texas state bar for his federal criminal conviction, Texas officials brought an additional criminal case against him for stealing client funds, a charge to which he eventually pled no contest. In the…