No. 22-1066

DORA L. BONNER,

Plaintiff, Appellant,

v.

TRIPLE S MANAGEMENT CORPORATION, TRIPLE-S VIDA, INC.,

Defendants, Appellees.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

[Hon. Bruce J. McGivern, U.S. Magistrate Judge]

Before

Montecalvo and Lipez, Circuit Judges. Burroughs, District Judge.

Monica A. Santiago Vazquez and Dora L. Bonner for appellant. María D. Trelles-Hernández, with whom Jorge I. Peirats, Julián R. Rodríguez-Muñoz, and Pietrantoni Méndez & Álvarez LLC were on brief, for appellees.

May 19, 2023

 Of the District of Massachusetts, sitting by designation. Burroughs, District Judge. This appeal follows a grant of summary judgment by the district court against Appellant Dora L. Bonner and in favor of Appellees Triple-S Management Corporation ("TSM") and Triple-S Vida, Inc. ("TSV") (collectively "Appellees" or "Triple-S").1 In the underlying action, Bonner brought several claims alleging that Triple-S denied her millions of dollars of proceeds from certain certificates, which TSM allegedly invested, and devised a scheme to defraud her by requiring Bonner to pay management fees that purportedly were necessary to release the proceeds to Bonner. Bonner now challenges the district court's (i) denial of her motion to compel discovery and extend the discovery deadline, as well as the motion for reconsideration of that denial, and (ii) determination that Triple-S was entitled to summary judgment because Triple-S had established as a matter of law that the individuals behind the fraudulent scheme were not related to Triple-S. Finding that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Bonner's discovery-related motions and properly considered the evidence at the summary judgment stage, we affirm.

I. Background A. Facts

TSM is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue

1 The parties consented to proceed before a magistrate judge. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(c).

- 2 - Shield Association and a holding company for several insurance companies that offer health, life, and property casualty insurance in Puerto Rico, including TSV, which offers life insurance. In 2013, TSV acquired Atlantic Southern Insurance Company ("ASI"), which sells health, life, and cancer insurance.

In March 2015, Bonner was contacted by an individual who introduced himself as Albert Gamboa Spencer ("Gamboa") and stated that he was an employee at TSV who previously worked at ASI.2 Gamboa said that he was reaching out to Bonner because someone had attempted to change the beneficiary designation on an investment certificate held by TSV in Bonner's name that was worth more than $8 million.3

Following this initial discussion, Bonner undertook to retrieve the funds referenced by Gamboa. To this end, from March 2015 through approximately August 2015, Bonner participated in many phone calls and over one hundred emails with Gamboa and other individuals who claimed to be Triple-S employees, including people who claimed the following names and titles: Feliciano Zelaya, a Financial Manager at TSM; Ramon Ruiz, Chief Executive Officer for TSM; Eugenio Cerra, Jr., "chairman" for TSM; and Emilio Aponte,

2 Gamboa's initial emails to Bonner following the call identified him as the Head of Legal Department, Country Director for Triple-S. His later emails identified him as a Policy Manager. 3 Bonner was later informed that there were multiple investment certificates in her name.

- 3 - a TSM board member.

In April 2015, Zelaya instructed