Ex Parte Alfa Life Ins. Corp.

Alfa Life Insurance Corporation petitions this Court for a writ of mandamus directing the Honorable John E. Rochester to vacate an order denying Alfa's motion to sever the claims of Robert Hughes, Donald Cline, and Tom Dake and Patti Dake for three separate trials and to enter an order severing those claims. We grant the petition.

Facts

In April 1999 Hughes, Cline, and the Dakes, policyholders of Alfa "Whole Life 110" insurance policies, filed a lawsuit as a proffered class action.1 The policyholders asserted claims of fraudulent misrepresentation, suppression, breach of contract, and…