F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
JUL 3 2001
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT
PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
WILLIE J. PEE, Personal
Representative of the Estate of Lanita
Renay Pee,
Plaintiff, No. 00-1323
(D.C. No. 99-WM-381)
and (D. Colo.)
YOLANDA WALKER, individually,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
AMERICAN FAMILY LIFE
INSURANCE COMPANY, a
Wisconsin corporation,
Defendant-Appellee.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before EBEL , PORFILIO , and KELLY , Circuit Judges.
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The court
generally disfavors the citation of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order
and judgment may be cited under the terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist the determination of
this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is
therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.
Plaintiff Yolanda Walker 1
appeals from an order of the district court
granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment. We affirm.
Ms. Walker commenced this action in state court seeking payment of
$250,000.00 in accordance with the terms of a life insurance policy her sister,
Ms. Pee, had taken out twenty-three days prior to her death. Defendant, American
Family Life Insurance Co., removed the case to federal district court pursuant to
28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(1). American Family maintained that it was not required to
pay on the policy due to Ms. Pee’s fraud in obtaining the policy.
In Colorado, to rescind a policy based on misrepresentations,
the insurer must prove that (1) the applicant made a false statement
of fact or concealed a fact in his application for insurance; (2) the
applicant knowingly made the false statement or knowingly
concealed the fact; (3) the false statement of fact or the concealed
fact materially affected either the acceptance of the risk or the hazard
assumed by the insurer; (4) the insurer was ignorant of the false
statement of fact or concealment of fact and is not chargeable with
knowledge of the fact; (5) the insurer relied, to its detriment, on the
false statement of fact or concealment of fact in issuing the policy.
1
Willie J. Pee, the personal representative of the estate of his late wife,
Lanita Renay Pee, dismissed his claims against defendant.
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Hollinger v. Mut. Benefit Life Ins. Co. , 560 P.2d 824, 827 (Colo. 1977) (footnote
omitted).
Ms. Walker did not contest the fact that defendant had met the first three
elements. See Appendix, Vol. 1, tab 3 at 5-6. Thus, the court addressed only
elements four and five. The magistrate judge concluded that defendant had met
these elements. Ms. Walker filed objections to this conclusion. The district court
reviewed the record and Ms. Walker’s objections. The court determined that the
magistrate judge’s recommendation was proper and that Ms. Walker had waived
several of her arguments as she raised them for the first time in her objections.
On appeal Ms. Walker argues she would have shown that American Family
had not met elements four and five if the trial court had not disregarded issues of
material fact she set forth both in her response to American Family’s motion for
summary judgment and in her objections to the magistrate judge’s
recommendation. She also contends the district court should not have found that
she had waived any of her arguments.
“We review the district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo,
applying the same legal standard used by the district court” under Fed. R. Civ. P.
56(c). Simms v. Okla. ex rel. Dep’t of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Servs. ,
165 F.3d 1321, 1326 (10th Cir. 1999). Summary judgment is proper if the moving
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party shows “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving
party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c).
Upon consideration of the parties’ briefs on appeal, the appendix, and the
applicable law, the judgment of the United States District Court for the District of
Colorado is AFFIRMED for substantially the reasons stated in the court’s order of
July 26, 2000, adopting the magistrate judge’s recommendation of June 20, 2000.
Entered for the Court
David M. Ebel
Circuit Judge
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