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Conflict of Laws Keyed to Brilmayer
Ferrell v. Allstate Insurance Co.
Citation:
144 N.M. 405 (2008)Facts
Plaintiffs, Ferrell and other individuals insured by Allstate, brought a class action lawsuit against Defendant, Allstate Insurance Company (“Allstate”), in New Mexico state court. Plaintiffs argued that Allstate was liable for breach of contract for failing to include installment fees that are charged when an insured opts to pay the premium in monthly installments in the total premium calculation. Allstate argued that the installment fees were not part of the premium. Instead, Allstate claimed that the fees would be imposed when an insured chose to pay the policy installments rather than in one lump sum. Plaintiffs requested that the district court certify a nationwide class, but later narrowed the class to fifteen states. The district court certified a class of thirteen states, and declined to certify Plaintiffs from Hawaii or Washington. Allstate appealed the class certification to the Court of Appeals, which determined that the laws of the state where each insurance contract was entered into would separately apply to the Plaintiffs from that state. As a result, the Court of Appeals decertified the class with respect to all of the out of state class members, but affirmed the certification with respect to the New Mexico class members. The Supreme Court of New Mexico granted certiorari.
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Topic Resources
Topic Outline
Choice of Law