BROADCASTS.com

Insurer Files Interpleader to Allow Claim Payment to Proper Competing Claims Against Funds

Post 4773

See the full video at https://rumble.com/v4of8jo-whos-on-first.html\xa0 and at https://youtu.be/mCY8rYGqSGc

In an interpleader action arising out of a jury trial in Hanover Am. Ins. Co. v Tattooed Millionaire Entertainment, LLC, No. 2:16-cv-02817-JPM-tmp (W.D. Tenn. 2016) (\u201cHanover I\u201d).\xa0 In Hanover I,\n a jury trial was held on \u201cinsurance claims submitted to Hanover [by \nDefendants in the instant case] in connection with a 2015 arson fire and\n alleged theft at the House of Blues recording studio located on Rayner \nStreet in Memphis, Tennessee.\u201d

In Hanover American Insurance Company v. Tattooed Millionaire Entertainment, LLC, Christopher C. Brown, and John Falls,\n No. 2:20-cv-02834-JPM-cgc, United States District Court, W.D. \nTennessee, Western Division (April 4, 2024) the USDC distributed the \navailable funds.

The Hanover I jury held that:

\n
1. Christopher C. Brown (\u201cBrown\u201d) and Tattooed Millionaire Entertainment, LLC (\u201cTME\u201d) were indistinguishable; and
\n
2. Brown/TME made material misrepresentations with the intent to \ndeceive and committed unlawful insurance acts during the claims process,\n and thus Hanover was entitled to recover the advance payments made to \nBrown/TME.
\n
3. The Hanover I jury also held that Falls did not make \nmaterial misrepresentations or commit unlawful insurance acts, and thus \nawarded him the maximum amount covered by his policy: $2.5 million in \nBusiness Personal Property (\u201cBPP\u201d) and an additional $250,000 in \nBusiness Income (\u201cBI\u201d).
\n

After the jury trial concluded, the USDC granted Hanover\u2019s Rule 50(b)\n motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and entered an amended \njudgment denying Falls\u2019 recovery. The Sixth Circuit, however, reversed \nthe post-trial ruling and remanded with instructions to reinstate the \njury verdict as to Falls, which the USDC did.

In the current action: \u201cHanover II,\u201d Hanover filed its \nComplaint for interpleader and declaratory relief. Hanover claims that \nthe $2.5 million BPP insurance awarded to Falls is subject to multiple \ncompeting claims. Hanover\u2019s Declaratory Relief Complaint seeks a \ndeclaration that the $2.5 million BPP award is null and void as a matter\n of Tennessee public policy. It also pleads in the alternative that the \nCourt must resolve the various competing claims to the BPP insurance \nproceeds and declare to whom, and in what amount, those funds should be \npaid.

Prior to trial the Parties stipulated to the following facts during pre-trial conference:

\n
• John Falls leased Studio B at the former House of Blues studio \nlocated on Rayner Street in Memphis, Tennessee, and the equipment \ntherein from Christopher Brown who owned TME.
\n
• Falls obtained insurance from Hanover that included, inter alia, $2.5 million in coverage for BPP and $500,000 in coverage for BI.
\n
• Brown/TME had a separate policy that covered, inter alia, the structure of the studio building.
\n
• On November 5, 2015, an arson fire occurred at the House of Blues \nrecording studio located on Rayner Street in Memphis, Tennessee, causing\n substantial damage to the building and the BPP therein.
\n
• The evidence presented at the trial of the original action (Hanover I)\n established that Brown/TME falsified documents and submitted fake \ninvoices, phony receipts, and doctored bank account statements in \nconnection with the insurance claims following the fire.
\n
• In the appeal regarding the original action, the Sixth Circuit \nwrote: \u201cThe jury awarded Falls $2,500,000 as the amount of insurance he \nwas owed, up to his policy limit, for Business Personal Property \ncoverage \u2026. The BPP payment covers the loss of the gear in Falls\u2019 \nstudio. However, Brown is the ultimate owner of the lost gear, on which \nFalls had a perpetually renewable leasehold.\u201d
\n

\n




\n