United States Fifth Circuit

In a suit over the proper allocation of annuity funds established by the U.S. for the benefit of a private individual, summary judgment for the U.S. and denial of a motion for default judgment against the individual are affirmed where: 1) a previous class-action settlement had no preclusive effect on the issue of whether the holder of the annuity could be forced to alter the payee despite its contractual obligation to the U.S.; 2) the district court correctly determined that the U.S. has the exclusive contractual right to designate the annuity's payee; and 3) the all objections to the denial of the motion for default judgment were waived.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/13/2009
• Published 01/14/2009

Judges

• JENNIFER W. ELROD, Circuit Judge:, Before PRADO, ELROD and HAYNES, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Earl S. Nesbitt (argued), Nesbitt, Vassar, McCown & Roden, Addison, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellant., William George Cole (argued), U.S. Dept. of Justice, Civ. Div., Washington, DC, for U.S.