Opinion ID: 203941
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Recoupment Action.

Text: After the class action was put to bed, ANFIC invoked diversity jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(1), and sued York County in Maine's federal district court. It sought to recover the $750,000 it had contributed to the class settlement on the ground that the funds represented deductibles owed to it by York County. ANFIC posited that because each and every individual claim was settled for less than the $5,000 deductible amount, its settlement contribution was composed entirely of deductibles (advanced by it on behalf of its insured (York County)). York County denied the thrust of the complaint and asserted various affirmative defenses (including equitable estoppel and accord and satisfaction), see Fed. R.Civ.P. 8(c). In due season, the parties cross-moved for partial summary judgment concerning the meaning of the policy's per claim deductible language. The district court accepted ANFIC's reading of the provision. It ruled, in effect, that per claim means per claimant, not per class. Am. Nat'l. Fire Ins. Co. v. York County, No. 06-200, 2007 WL 4531720, at  (D.Me. Dec. 18, 2007). That ruling has not been challenged on appeal. The battleground then shifted to York County's affirmative defenses. After a bench trial, the district court found, in the alternative, that an accord and satisfaction had occurred, D.Ct.Op., 582 F.Supp.2d at 77; and that, in all events, ANFIC was equitably estopped from pursuing its claim for reimbursement of deductibles, id. This timely appeal followed.