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Law360 (March 30, 2021, 7:33 PM EDT) -- Two insurance units of The Hartford have asked a North Carolina federal judge to end a law firm's effort to bring COVID-19-related loss claims on behalf of a national class of policyholders against them, arguing that the firm lacks standing to represent insureds from other states.
Hartford Casualty Insurance Co. and Sentinel Insurance Co. said Monday that Rodzik Law Group PLLC cannot represent a nationwide class since it is only doing business in North Carolina. The presiding federal court also lacks personal jurisdiction over them, the carriers claimed.
"HCIC and Sentinel do not contest the court's personal jurisdiction over them for the claims of North Carolina policyholders like Rodzik, BAU, and Cataract. But this court has no personal jurisdiction over HCIC or Sentinel for claims with no connection to the state of North Carolina," the carriers said.
Last November, Rodzik, together with BAU Print & Mail, a marketing seminar company, and Cataract Consultants, an eye clinic, said the two carriers wrongly denied coverage for their pandemic-related losses, alleging breach of contract and seeking declaratory judgment on behalf of all Hartford policyholders in the U.S.
According to court records, Rodzik, a personal injury firm focusing on automobile accidents and workers' compensation claims, saw an immediate decline in new clients when the court system temporarily shut down personal injury litigation last March, while BAU had 93% of its planned seminars canceled between March and June and Cataract suspended all nonemergency surgeries during the same period.
On Monday, HCIC and Sentinel said the law firm, BAU and Cataract do not have any offices outside of North Carolina so they cannot represent a nationwide class of policyholders. The firm and the two companies alleged no interaction with HCIC and Sentinel outside of the Tar Heel State and failed to identify any class representatives out of that state, the insurers said.
"To permit three North Carolina businesses to assert breaches of other states' contract laws on behalf of a nationwide class would allow plaintiffs to raise claims that they individually lack standing to bring," the carriers said.
Additionally, the two insurers said the court does not have jurisdiction over them because both HCIC and Sentinel have their principal place of business outside North Carolina. Rodzik, BAU and Cataract also failed to demonstrate that HCIC and Sentinel have had specific contacts with North Carolina, the insurers said.
"Insureds outside North Carolina are pursuing their claims in their home states. There is no benefit to allowing non–North Carolina claims to linger in this case through class-certification briefing," they added.
Representatives for the parties could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.
Rodzik, BAU and Cataract are represented by Gary E. Mason of Whitfield Bryson & Mason LLP and Martin A. Ramey and Joel R. Rhine of Rhine Law Firm PC.
The insurers are represented by Erica L. Gerson, Frank Winston Jr., and Sarah D. Gordon of Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Alan Evan Schoenfeld of WilmerHale and L. Andrew Watson of Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP.
The case is Rodzik Law Group et al. v. Hartford Casualty Insurance Co. et al., case number 7:20-cv-00224, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
--Editing by Bruce Goldman.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
