FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
APR 11 2016
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
DOROTHY DURBIN, No. 14-56450
Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 3:13-cv-00052-BEN-
MDD
v.
HARTFORD LIFE INSURANCE MEMORANDUM*
COMPANY,
Defendant - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of California
Roger T. Benitez, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted April 7, 2016**
Pasadena, California
Before: TASHIMA, SILVERMAN, and GRABER, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff Dorothy Durbin appeals the district court’s grant of summary
judgment in favor of Defendant Hartford Life Insurance Company ("Hartford").
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes that this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
On de novo review, Baccei v. United States, 632 F.3d 1140, 1144 (9th Cir. 2011),
we affirm.
1. Even if Plaintiff’s financial abuse claim were not time-barred, an issue
that we need not decide, there is no evidence that Hartford "retain[ed]" Plaintiff’s
property. See Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 15610.30(a)(1) ("‘Financial abuse’ of an
elder . . . occurs when a person or entity . . . retains real or personal property of an
elder . . . for a wrongful use . . . ."). Pacific Standard Life Insurance Company and
Hartford issued the loans in 1990, 1992, and 1997. Although those acts may have
violated the contract, in none of these instances did Hartford (or its predecessor)
keep the funds.
2. Plaintiff cannot show that Hartford, in 2011, had a legal duty to repay the
loans and, therefore, that it retained property for a "wrongful use." Id. Not every
financial taking or withholding constitutes financial abuse of an elder, especially
when the elder has no legal right to the property. See Stebley v. Litton Loan
Servicing, LLP, 134 Cal. Rptr. 3d 604, 608 (Ct. App. 2011) (noting that it is not
"wrongful use" for "a commercial lender to . . . take collateral, or to foreclose on
collateral when a debt is not paid" (internal quotation marks omitted)).
AFFIRMED.
2