Wailes v. Allstate Insurance Company

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 9 AT SEATTLE 11 DAVID WAILES, CASE NO. 2:23-cv-01651-TL 12 Plaintiff, ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE v. REGARDING SUBJECT ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, a MATTER JURISDICTION 14 foreign insurance company, and DAVID BAMFORD, an individual, Defendants.

18 This matter is before the Court sua sponte. This matter arises out of an auto insurance claim related to a motor vehicle collision. See Dkt. No. 1-1 (complaint). On October 30, 2023, Defendant Allstate Insurance Company filed a notice of removal from King County Superior Court. See Dkt. No. 1 (notice). Defendant Allstate asserts diversity jurisdiction on the basis that Defendant David Bamford, an employee of Defendant Allstate who handled the insurance claim, is fraudulently joined as a party to the case and should be disregarded for purposes of determining whether diversity jurisdiction exists. Id. at 3–4.

1 This Court recently addressed the question of whether individual insurance adjuster employees—like Mr. Bamford—may be liable for certain Washington law claims, including the common law bad-faith claim asserted here. See Xu v. Weis, No. C22-118, 2023 WL 2142683 (W.D. Wash. Feb. 21, 2023). The Court rejected Defendant Allstate’s claim—repeated here (Dkt. No. 1 ¶¶ 12–13)—that the Washington Supreme Court’s decision in Keodalah v. Allstate Ins. Co., 449 P.3d 1040 (2019), forecloses such a claim. See Xu, 2023 WL 2142683, at *3–4. Its decision was in harmony with other decisions of this District. See id. at *4 (collecting cases).

8 Accordingly, Defendants are ORDERED TO SHOW CAUSE why this matter should not be remanded to King County Superior Court: 10 • Defendants SHALL respond within fourteen (14) days of this Order addressing 11 the issue of fraudulent joinder, as set forth in the Notice of Removal (Dkt. No. 1).

12 • Plaintiff SHALL submit a response within seven (7) days after Defendants’ 13 response to this Order.

14 • Any brief SHALL NOT exceed ten (10) pages.

15 • No reply brief is permitted.

16 Dated this 31st day of October 2023.

A Tana Lin 19 United States District Judge