Opinion ID: 1695849
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Directed verdict against Mary Johnson and Pam Ponder.

Text: The complaint alleges that the plaintiffs are holders of policies of life insurance of defendant Life Insurance Company of Alabama, and that the defendants force[d] plaintiffs to buy exorbitant and unreasonable amounts of whole life insurance. The plaintiffs also filed a document entitled Plaintiffs' More Definite Statement and Response to Motions for Summary Judgment, in which they allege that a cause of action is set forth merely on the basis that the plaintiffs sought to deal with the issue of obtaining loans, and were forced to buy insurance, which they did not want, from Life Insurance Company of Alabama. There are only two situations in which a directed verdict is proper: (1) where there is no scintilla of evidence to support an element essential to the claim [2] or (2) where there is no disputed issue of fact upon which reasonable men could differ. Osborn v. Johns, 468 So.2d 103, 111 (Ala.1985); Caterpillar Tractor Co. v. Ford, 406 So.2d 854, 856 (Ala.1981). In order to justify a directed verdict in the latter situation, the facts and inferences must lead reasonable persons to only one verdict. Osborn, supra, quoting Bickford v. International Speedway Corp., 654 F.2d 1028, 1031 (5th Cir.1981). The evidence presented at trial revealed that no insurance policy was ever issued on the life of Mary Johnson or Pam Ponder and that neither of them was ever a party to an insurance contract from LICA. Likewise, no evidence was presented that these plaintiffs' property was converted by the defendants or that the defendants perpetrated a fraud upon them. In reviewing the facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, as we are required to do, Alabama Power Co. v. Robinson, 404 So.2d 22 (Ala.1981), we find that, because no evidence was presented at trial to support their claims, we must affirm the judgment on the directed verdicts against the claims of Mary Johnson and Pam Ponder.