Jeffrey Wissot v. Great-West Life & Annuity Ins.

MEMORANDUM

Jeffrey Wissot appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company regarding a disputed insurance contract. The district court ruled that the contract’s choice-of-law provisions should be enforced and that Wissot’s claim for benefits was predicated on an incorrect reading of the unambiguous contract. We affirm.

1. The contract’s choice-of-law provision is enforceable. “In diversity cases, federal courts must apply the conflict-of-law principles of the forum state.” S.A. Empresa v. Boeing Co., 641 F.2d 746, 749 (9th Cir.1981). Here, that means we enforce the contract’s choice-of-law provision unless “the chosen state has no substantial relationship to the parties or the transaction and there is no other reasonable basis for the partiesf] choice,” or the “application of the law of the chosen state would be contrary to a fundamental policy of a state which has a materially greater interest than the chosen state in the determination of the particular issue.” Nedlloyd Lines B.V. v. Superior Court, 3 Cal.4th 459, 465 , 11 Cal.Rptr.2d 330 , 834 P.2d 1148 (1992) (quoting Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws § 187…