Berg

1 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

8 9

PHILIP BERG,

10 Plaintiff, No. C 19-04259 WHA 11 v. 12

VIATICUS, INC.; CONTINENTAL ORDER DENYING

13

CASUALTY COMPANY; DOES 1–10; MOTION TO DISMISS

and DOE CORPORATIONS 1–10, 14 Defendants. 15 / 16 Plaintiff AIDS victim brings this civil action against defendants viatical investors. 17 Defendants move to dismiss plaintiff’s complaint under FRCP 12(b)(6). For the reasons set 18 19 forth below, the motion is DENIED. The viatical industry profits from the misfortune of AIDS victims by purchasing 20 life insurance policies with the expectation that the victims will die sooner rather than later. 21 After plaintiff Philip Berg came down with AIDS, he acquired a life insurance policy from 22 Mutual of New York (MONY) Life Insurance Company of America. The policy’s death payout 23 would automatically increase yearly until his sixtieth birthday. For the years between his 24 sixtieth and seventieth birthdays, however, the death payout would increase only if he were 25 found insurable by MONY (Dkt. No. 1-1 at 4-7, 16-20). 26 In…