R.S.

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff R.S.1 appeals from a judgment of dismissal following the trial court’s order sustaining the demurrer of defendant PacifiCare Health and Life Insurance Company (PacifiCare) to R.S.’s wrongful death and survivor claims on res judicata grounds. This is the third in a series of lawsuits arising from PacifiCare’s alleged failure to pay medical health benefits under insurance policies it issued to R.S. and his registered domestic partner R.C. in 2004. On their applications R.S. and R.C. disclosed they were HIV positive and R.C. had AIDS.2 PacifiCare filed the first lawsuit in 2008 (R.S.-I) in a Missouri court seeking to rescind the insurance policies on the basis of alleged fraud. R.S. and R.C. filed a counterclaim for breach of contract, but dismissed it without prejudice before trial. The court issued a judgment in favor of R.S. and R.C. and ordered PacifiCare to pay medical benefits to R.S. and R.C.; the order was affirmed on appeal. In 2009 R.S. and R.C. brought a second action in Los Angeles County Superior Court for breach of contract, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing and unfair business practices. The trial court sustained PacifiCare’s…