Doe v. United Services Life Insurance Company

123 F.R.D. 437 (S.D.N.Y. 1988)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Doe works as a law clerk for a federal judge. During his last year of law school, Doe and his father agreed to obtain life insurance on Doe’s life to secure his father’s obligations as guarantor of Doe’s student loans. A United Services (D) representative interviewed Doe and required him to undergo a physical examination. Doe alleges that D takes extra precautions in issuing life insurance policies to homosexual males. D requires an interview and blood test. D required them from Doe because he was a single male living with another single male in Greenwich Village. Doe admitted to prior arrest for public intoxication, and because his blood test also showed abnormally high levels of liver enzymes associated with alcohol abuse, D added a $105 surcharge to the policy that raised to from $155 to $260. Doe offered to take the blood test again, but D declined. D underwent an independent blood test and obtained no abnormal result and sued D alleging violations of New York insurance law and discrimination based on sex, marital status, and sexual orientation. Doe alleges he is heterosexual. D removed the action to federal court. After Doe took the suit, D invited Doe to take another blood test. This was declined. D next challenged Doe’s right to maintain the suit under a pseudonym. D contends the action is merely one related to why D wants to charge Doe a higher premium and has no relation to unrelated sexual activities or homosexuality or susceptibility to AIDS. D also contends that allowing Doe to proceed without revealing who he is will injure it by denying it the ability to defend itself from publicity or to set the record straight with a full response.