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Macomber v. Travelers Property and Casualty Corp.9/3/2002
he defendants' other alternate ground for striking the civil conspiracy count, namely, that the plaintiffs have failed to allege that the defendants cooperated in any unlawful schemes. In order to survive a motion to strike a civil conspiracy count, the plaintiffs must properly allege: ''(1) a combination between two or more persons, (2) to do a criminal or an unlawful act or a lawful act by criminal or unlawful means, (3) an act done by one or more of the conspirators pursuant to the scheme and in furtherance of the object, (4) which act results in damage to the plaintiff.'' (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Marshak v. Marshak, 226 Conn. 652, 665, 628 A.2d 964 (1993), overruled on other grounds, State v. Vakilzaden, 251 Conn. 656, 666, 742 A.2d 767 (1999). Regarding the second element of civil conspiracy, the plaintiffs point to two actions allegedly carried out by the defendants, which the plaintiffs contend are illegal: (1) the rebating scheme, which allegedly violates both Connecticut and New York law; see General Statutes § 38a-825; N.Y. Ins. Law § 2324 (McKinney 2000); and (2) the solicitation and sale of life insurance products without a license to do so.
With respect to the rebating scheme, the plaintiffs claim that: (1) due to either a corporate relationship or specific agreement, all defendants were aware of, and knowing participants in, the rebating scheme; (2) '' arious mergers and/or acquisitions involving [Travelers Group] and/or other Travelers entities have also resulted in questions arising concerning the nature of the rebating, and likewise have resulted in further efforts to white-wash and cover-up the illegal practices described herein''; and (3) '' enior management of [Travelers Casualty] and [Travelers Annuity] have repeatedly admonished middle managers and others within their organizations not to refer to the rebates and kickbacks as anything other than 'service reimbursements,' for fear of the consequences of any such characterizations.'' As for the plaintiffs' claim that Travelers Casualty allegedly has solicited and sold life insurance policies, the plaintiffs claim that Travelers Casualty, Travelers Annuity and Travelers Group all ''instructed claims adjusters to avoid the use of certain phrases when selling annuities'' so as to sidestep accusations that they were actually selling annuities.
Even if we were to assume, as we do only for purposes of this appeal, that the rebating scheme is illegal, and that Travelers Casualty is unlawfully soliciting and selling life insurance products, the plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged that all of the defendants participated in those acts and, in some instances, attempted to cover them up. Consequently, the plaintiffs' civil conspiracy count should not be stricken.
H. Count Nine
Count nine of the plaintiffs' complaint alleged that the defendants committed conversion whereby they ''assumed control and exercised ownership rights over money belonging to the plaintiffs and . . . appropriated such money for themselves to the detriment of the plaintiffs . . . .'' The defendants contend that the alleged rebates are not the property of the plaintiffs and, therefore, that count nine should be stricken because the defendants ''never assumed unauthorized control over anything belonging to the plaintiffs ....'' We agree.
''We have defined conversion as n unauthorized assumption and exercise of the right of ownership over goods belonging to another, to the exclusion of the owner's rights. . . . It is some unauthorized act which deprives another of his property permanently or for an indefinite time; some unauthorized assumption and exercise of the powers of the owner to his harm. The essence of the wro
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