Free Motion for Leave to File - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

1 LATHAM & WATKINS LLP
_ Joel E. Krischer (California SBN 066489)
2 (admitted pro hac vice)
g joel.krischer§1Qlw.com
3 ' Joanna R. Wol e (California SBN 217409)
(admitted pm hac vice)
4 I [email protected]
{g 633 West Fifth Street, Suite 4000
5 I Los Angeles, California 90071-2007
Q Telephone: (213) 485-1234 1
6 i Facsimile: (213) 891-8763 1
7 SEYFARTH SHAW LLP [
[ Andrew M. Palely (California SBN 149699)
8 (admitted pro ac vice)
E [email protected] ‘
9 1 2029 Century Park East, Suite 3300
Los Angeles, California 90067-3063
10 _ Telephone: (310) 277-7200
1 Facsimile: (310) 201-5219
‘ Attorneys for Defendants Allstate Insurance
12 Company, Allstate Property and Casualty 1
5 Insurance Comipany, Allstate Indemnity
13 A Company, Kar Meckert and Kim Lowe »
14
15 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT E
i 1
16 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA l
18 11 IN RE ALLSTATE INSURANCE CO. MDL NO. 1541
1 FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT .
19 LITIGATION I
21 I LEONARD GAGLIONE, et al., No. CIV-04-15-PHX-PGR 5
1
22 I Plaintiffs, DEFENDANTS’ REQUEST TO FILE
SUPPLEMENTAL BRIEF AND
23 vs. LODGING OF NEW AUTHORITY
RELEVANT TO THE PENDING 1
24 _ ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, MOTION FOR SUMMARY
2 I etal., JUDGMENT
5 .
1 Defendants. Assigned to the Hon. Paul G. Rosenblatt
26 ‘ Dept.: 621 1
27 E {
28 l
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LOSANMS Case 2:03-md-01541-PGR Document 131 Filed O3/21/2006 Page 1 of 4

I I
V 1 Defendants Allstate Insurance Company ("AIC"), Allstate Property and
2 II Casualty Insurance Company ("AP&C"), Allstate Indemnity Company ("Indemnity"),
3 II Karl Meckert and Kim Lowe (collectively, "Defendants") request this Court’s permission I
4 I to file this supplemental brief to bring to the Court’s attention a recently decided case that I
5 is directly relevant to the issues raised by the Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment
6 against the Gaglione plaintiffs in In re Allstate Insurance Co. Fair Labor Standards I
7 I Litigation, MDL No. 1541.
8 I On March 14, 2006, the United States District Court for the Northern I
9 District of Illinois granted a motion for summary judgment in favor of the employer in I
10 Marting v. Crawford & Co., Case No. 00 C 7132. (A copy of that Memorandum Opinion I
1 1 and Order is attached hereto as Appendix A.) Marting, a casualty adjuster for a I
12 II third-party claims administrator, raised claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act that
13 are, for all practical purposes, identical to the overtime/misclassification claims raised by
14 the Gaglione plaintiffs in the case pending before this Court. This Court will see that in I
15 I granting summary judgment in the employer’s favor, the Marting court rejected the
16 I identical arguments made by the Gaglione plaintiffs here in (i) finding that plaintiff` s I
17 duties as a casualty adjuster were administrative in nature (explicitly rejecting the
18 I production/administration dichotomy in the context of claims adjusters), and (ii) that the I
19 II plaintiff exercised the discretion and independent judgment necessary to qualify for the I
20 . administrative exemption, despite the fact she had guidelines to follow in performing her I
21 I job and was subject to regular supervision. Marting thus joins the ever-growing list of `
22 District Court decisions to find that insurance industry claims adjusters are exempt. I
23 {I Defendants respectfully submit that the Marting court employed the precise
24 II analysis that they have advocated in their motion for summary judgment against the
25 I .....
26 ..... I
27 ..... I
28 I ..... I
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MAME Case 2:O3—md—O1541-PGR Document 131 I Filed O3/21/2006 Page 2 of 4

1 claims of thc Gaglione plaintiffs in this matter, and that this Court should apply that
1
2 analysis and reach a similar conclusion.
3 RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED this 2lst day of March, 2006.
4
5 By: s/Joel E. Krischcr
Joel E. Krischer
6 LATHAM & WATKINS LLP
633 West Fifth Street, Suite 4000
7 Los Angeles, California 90071-2007
Telephone: (213) 891-7939
g Facsimile: (213) 891-8763
I [email protected]
9
I Attorneys for Defendants
10 , Allstate Insurance Company, Allstate Property
I and Casualty Insurance Company, Allstate
11 Indemnity Company, Karl Meckert and
I Kim Lowe
12 1 I
13 I .
I
14 I
16
19 I
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23 I
24 I
25 1
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5 27 I I
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Case 2:O3—md—O1541-PGR Document 131 Filed O3/21/2006 Page 3 of 4

{ C CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby certify that on March 21, 2006, I electronically transmitted the
attached document described as DEFENDANTS’ REQUEST TO FILE
SUPPLEMENTAL BRIEF AND LODGING OF NEW AUTHORITY RELEVANT
TO THE PENDING MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT to the Clerk’s Office
using the CM/ECF System for filing and transmittal of a Notice of Electronic Filing to
the following CM/ECF registrants:
Clerk, United States District Court
Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse
401 West Washington Street, Suite 130, SPC 1
Phoenix, AZ 85003-2118
Kelly Mclnerney, Esq. Mark Wintering, Esq.
Mclnerney & Jones Robert E. Sweeney Co., LPA
18124 Wedge Parkway, Suite 503 55 Public Square, Suite 1500
Reno, NV 8951 1 » Cleveland, OH 44113
[email protected] [email protected]
Attorneys for Plaintiffs Attorneys for Plaintiffs
George Sintsirmas, Esq. Steven M. Weiss, Esq.
George Sintsinnas, LLC Law Offices of Steven M. Weiss
6212 Coldstream Road 1250 Illuminating Building
Highland Heights, OH 44143 55 Public Square, Suite 1009
[email protected] Cleveland, OH 44113
57 Attorneys for Plaintiffs [email protected]
i Attorneys for Plaintiffs
Andrea Elisabeth Watters, Esq. James A. Jones, Esq.
Watters Law Office, PC Karla S. Jackson, Esq. a
2807 East Broadway Boulevard Gillespie, Rozen & Watsky
Tucson, AZ 85716 3402 Oak Grove Avenue, #200
[email protected] Dallas, TX 75204
{ Attorneys for Plaintiffs [email protected]
A [email protected]
5 Attorneys for Plaintiffs
By: s/Joel E. Krischer
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