Toulon v. Continental Casualty Co.

Dist. Ct. did not err in dismissing for failure to state cause of action plaintiff’s lawsuit alleging claims for fraudulent misrepresentation, fraudulent omission, unjust enrichment and violation of Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practice Act (ICFDPA) arising out of defendant-insurance company’s sale of long-term care insurance policy to plaintiff that contained 10-year guarantee that defendant would not raise premiums, under circumstances where defendant raised premiums by 76.5 percent 11 years after effective date of policy. Accordingly to plaintiff, defendant engaged in scheme to lure elderly people to purchase said policy by offering artificially low premiums for first 10 years and mentioning hypothetical raise of premiums of only 20 percent in sales pitch and then not disclosing any intent to raise rates substantially at time when elderly insureds would likely need to make claims. However, plaintiff failed to identify any false statement for purposes of her fraudulent misrepresentation claim and failed to identify any fraudulent omission, under circumstances where defendant did not owe plaintiff duty to disclose any facts. Also, plaintiff failed to state cause of action under ICFDPA, because plaintiff failed to identify any deceptive practice engaged in by defendant, any material omission of fact or any unfair practice. Moreover, express contract between parties precluded plaintiff from proceeding on unjust enrichment claim.