28 Fla. L. Weekly D2362a
Insurance — Class actions — Jurisdiction — Error to certify class action against life insurance company by group of policyholders who claim to have been improperly excluded from receipt of dividends from annual divisible surplus of disability policies, where insurance company is domiciled in State of Wisconsin, and Wisconsin Commissioner of Insurance has found that actions taken by company were proper — Company which is domiciled in State of Wisconsin is subject to insurance code of that state, and it is not for the courts of Florida to determine whether the actions of the company were improper
THE NORTHWESTERN MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. LEV B. KLEMPNER and CARLOS RAMOS, Appellees. 3rd District. Case No. 3D03-697. L.T. Case No. 01-16107. Opinion filed October 15, 2003. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Dade County, Thomas S. Wilson, Judge. Counsel: Hunton & Williams and Marty L. Steinberg and Thomas R. Julin and Jeffrey W. Gutchess and Aurore Victor, for appellant. Alan E. Weinstein; Boies, Schiller & Flexner and Stuart H. Singer and Carlos M. Sires and Carl E. Goldfarb and Sashi C. Bach (Ft. Lauderdale), for appellees.
(Before COPE and LEVY, JJ., and NESBITT, Senior Judge.)
(PER CURIAM.) Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (“Northwestern Mutual”) appeals from an Order Granting Class Certification to a group of medical and non-medical policyholders who were excluded from receiving dividends from an annual divisible surplus of their disability policies by reason of having their policies reclassified as part of a distinguished non-contributing ‘medical market class’. We reverse.
According to 15 U.S.C. § 1012(a) (2003), “[t]he business of insurance, and every person engaged therein, shall be subject to the laws of the several States which relate to the regulation or taxation of such business.” Northwestern Mutual is domiciled in the State of Wisconsin and, therefore, is subject to the insurance code of the State of Wisconsin. We note that the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, which is the insurance regulatory authority in the State of Wisconsin, opined that the actions taken by Northwestern Mutual were proper. Thus, it is not for the courts of the State of Florida to determine whether the alleged exclusion from receipt of dividends by Northwestern Mutual was proper. Accordingly, we reverse the Order Granting Class Certification and remand to the trial court with directions to dismiss the case.
Reversed and remanded with directions.
