Twohey v. Lincoln National Life Insurance Company

273 F.3d 817 (9th Cir. 2001) TERESA TWOHEY, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS SPECIAL ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF WILLIAM R. TWOHEY, DECEASED, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF ALL PERSONS SIMILARLY SITUATED, PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT, v. LINCOLN NATIONAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, DEFENDANT-APPELLEE. No. 00-16514 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT Argued and Submitted November 6, 2001 December 5, 2001 Douglas K. deVries, Mart & deVries, Sacramento, California, for the plaintiff-appellant. John M. Grenfell and Stephen Stublarec, Pillsbury Winthrop Llp, San Francisco, California, for the defendant-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California Charles R. Breyer, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-00-00196-CRB Before: Goodwin, Wallace and Thomas, Circuit Judges. Goodwin, Circuit Judge 1 Plaintiff Teresa Twohey appeals the summary judgment against her class action alleging that, under California Insurance Code Section 10369.6, insurer Lincoln National Life Insurance ("Lincoln") improperly reduced disability benefits paid to her late husband, a Lincoln group policyholder. We are asked to decide an issue of first impression in this…