Dismissal of Putative National Class Action Against Credit Life Insurer

Our LHD lawyers recently obtained the complete dismissal of a putative national class action against our client, a credit life insurer. The dismissal was granted in normally pro-plaintiff St. Clair County, Illinois, where, along with Madison County, a number of similar putative class actions, and some that have been certified, are presently pending.

Plaintiff purported to represent a class of persons who purchased credit life insurance in conjunction with the purchase of automobiles. Plaintiff’s claims included statutory and common law fraud theories, as well as unjust enrichment.

Although the lead plaintiff’s purchase occurred in 1994, her attorneys claimed that the Illinois discovery rule tolled the statute of limitations. They argued that plaintiff did not know she had a claim until after speaking with her attorneys.

In a case of apparent first impression in Illinois, and on an issue as to which courts nationally appear to be split, the trial judge agreed with us and dismissed plaintiff’s lawsuit in its entirety on statute of limitations grounds. Mike Kauffman, Patrick Kenny and Clark Cole worked on the case for our client.