In Pinto v. Farmers Insurance Exchange, 61 Cal. App. 5th 676, 276 Cal. Rptr. 3d 13 (2d Dist. 2021), the California Court of Appeals, Second District, held that the proof required to establish insurer bad faith for failure to settle required the plaintiff to prove both...
Bad Faith
MUTUAL MISTAKE IS NOT EXCUSE FOR BAD FAITH
Recently, the Kentucky Supreme Court allowed a bad faith lawsuit to proceed forward for alleged delays in resolving a UIM claim, notwithstanding the assertion of mutual mistake regarding the policy. The Kentucky Supreme Court in Nicholas v. Zurich American Insurance...
BAD FAITH SET-UP FAILS
The recent case of Eres v. Progressive American Insurance Co., 998 F.3d 1273 (11th Cir. 2021) demonstrates the failure of a questionable attempt to set up the insurance company for bad faith. In this case, the insured driver caused a motor vehicle accident which...
FAIR DEBATABILITY UPHELD BY IDAHO SUPREME COURT
In Cedillo v. Farmers Ins. Co., 408 P.3d 886 (Idaho 2017) the insured sued Farmers Insurance for bad faith arising out of the presentation of a UIM claim. In this case, Farmers did not dispute that its policy provided UIM coverage to the insured. The dispute between...
AGGRESSIVELY DEFENDING AGAINST AN INSURED’S CLAIM DOES NOT CONSTITUTE BAD FAITH
In Lock v. American Family Insurance Co., 460 P.3d 683 (Wash. App. Div. 1 2020) the Washington court found defending against the insured’s bad faith lawsuit was not a claim denial, nor was it bad faith. The underlying case involved UIM and PIP claims under American...
ILLINOIS LAW REQUIRES A TWO-PRONG DETERMINATION IN BAD FAITH FAILURE TO SETTLE CASES
Recently the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals held, interpreting Illinois law, that to establish a bad faith failure to settle case under Illinois law, the claimant must prove both reasonable probability of liability and reasonable probability of damages in excess of the...
TOO LATE!
The Colorado Supreme Court in Schultz v. GEICO Casualty Co., 429 P.3d 844 (Colo. 2018) recently held that later-developed evidence was irrelevant to a UIM claim because the denial had taken place prior to the development of that evidence. In this case, the insured,...
Corroborating UIM Claims
Under South Carolina law, insureds can receive the benefit of uninsured motorist coverage for injuries that are caused by a phantom driver, provided that the insured can establish three conditions set forth in S.C. Code Anno. §38-77-170. One of the three conditions...
Settling into Bad Faith
Under Florida Insurance Code §624.155, in order to bring a bad faith action there must be a favorable determination of liability against the insurer as a prerequisite to maintaining a bad faith action. In Barton v. Capitol Preferred Ins. Co., Inc., 208 So. 3d 239...
Oregon Court Finds That Insurer Bad Faith Is Not Elder Abuse
The Oregon Supreme Court, answering a certified question by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, held that bad faith delay or denial of payment of an insurance claim did not state a claim under Oregon's Financial Elder Abuse Statute. In Bates v. Bankers Life and Casualty...