In Norman-Nunnery v. Artisan & Truckers Casualty Co., No. 2013AP1465, 2015 Wisc. App. LEXIS 149, 2015 WL 789731 (Wis. Ct. App. Feb. 26, 2015), the Wisconsin Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment on a bad faith claim against an auto insurer. The plaintiff was involved in two car accidents approximately six months apart. After the second accident, the insurer deemed the automobile a total loss and paid the amount owed under the policy to the vehicle’s lienholder rather than the insured or the collision …
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Arizona Appellate Court Refuses To Vitiate the Attorney-Client Privilege When Insurer Does Not Advance Defense Based on Advice of Counsel
In Everest Indemnity Insurance Co. v. Rea, 2015 Ariz. App. LEXIS 9 (Ariz. Ct. App. Jan. 15, 2015), an Arizona appellate court held that Everest Indemnity Insurance Company (“Everest”) had not waived its attorney-client privilege by admitting that it had settled a case in good faith after consulting with counsel. As background, Rudolfo Brothers Plastering and Western Agriculture Insurance Company (collectively “Rudolfo”) alleged that Everest committed bad faith by entering into a settlement agreement that exhausted the liability coverage of an Owner Controlled Insurance …
Continue ReadingInsurer’s Reliance on Prior Unpublished Decision Sufficient To Defeat Bad Faith Claim
In Badiali v. New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Group, 2015 WL 668206 (N.J. Feb. 18, 2015), the New Jersey Supreme Court found that an uninsured motorist carrier did not commit bad faith by acting in accordance with an unpublished decision from a case it previously litigated.
The policyholder was involved in a car accident with an uninsured motorist. He filed an uninsured motorist claim with his employer’s insurer and his personal insurer. The matter was arbitrated, and the policyholder was awarded $29,148.62. The personal insurer …
Continue ReadingDistrict Court Sleuthing Around Policy Numbering Undermines Insurer’s Motion for Summary Judgment
In Connolly v. Progressive Northern Insurance Co., et al., No. 3:13-cv-2717, 2015 WL 464877 (M.D. Penn. Feb. 4, 2015), the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania denied Progressive Northern Insurance Company’s (“Progressive”) motion for summary judgment regarding whether the plaintiff could stack underinsured motorist coverage limits and whether the insurer had engaged in statutory bad faith.
Plaintiff was involved in a motor vehicle accident in February 2009. The third party tortfeasor paid plaintiff his $250,000 policy limit. Plaintiff subsequently made …
Continue ReadingMissouri High Court Allows Excess Insurer To Proceed with Bad Faith Refusal to Settle Claim Against Primary Insurer
In Scottsdale Insurance Co. v. Addison Insurance Co., No. SC93792, 2014 Mo. LEXIS 335 (Mo. Dec. 9, 2014), the Supreme Court of Missouri reversed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of United Fire & Casualty Company (United Fire) with regard to the bad faith refusal to settle claim asserted by Wells Trucking, Inc. (Wells Trucking) and Scottsdale Insurance Company (Scottsdale).
The underlying dispute arose from an automobile collision involving a truck driver employed by Wells Trucking that resulted in the death …
Continue ReadingTenth Circuit Reminds Insurer Cannot Use the Attorney-Client Privilege as Both a Sword and a Shield
The Tenth Circuit in Seneca Insurance Co. v. Western Claims, Inc., 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 24172 (10th Cir. Dec. 22, 2014), affirmed a district court’s decision to allow the discovery and admission into evidence of correspondence between Seneca Insurance Company (Seneca) and its counsel regarding the underlying hail damage claim and litigation. The Tenth Circuit agreed with the district court’s finding that Seneca put the advice of the attorneys at issue, thereby waiving the attorney-client privilege.
The underlying dispute stemmed from Western Claims, Inc.’s …
Continue ReadingPA High Court Gives Green Light to Assignment of Bad Faith Claims
In Allstate Prop. & Casualty Insurance Co. v. Wolfe, No. 39 MAP 2014, 2014 Pa. LEXIS 3309 (Pa. Dec. 15, 2014), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in deciding a certified question from the Third Circuit, ruled that statutory bad faith claims under 42 Pa. C.S.A. § 8371 are assignable.
The underlying dispute arose from a motor vehicle collision involving an intoxicated driver, Zierle, who was insured by Allstate. After settlement attempts failed, Wolfe, the tort claimant, sued Zierle for compensatory and punitive damages. Following a …
Continue ReadingCaseWatch: Insurance September 2013 Edition Now Available; Introducing Bad Faith Focus
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Continue ReadingCases for the September 2013 Edition of CaseWatch: Insurance and Bad Faith Focus
Cases provided courtesy of LexisNexis.
CaseWatch: Insurance Cases
Admiral Ins. Co. v. Shah & Associates
Admiral Insurance Company v. Marsh
Attorneys Liability Protection Society, Inc. v. Whittington Law Associates, PLLC
Automax Hyundai South, L.L.C. v. Zurich Am. Ins. Co.
California Ass’n of Rural Health Clinica; Avenal Community Health Center v. Douglas
City of San Buenaventura v. Ins. Co.
Colonial Oil Industries, Inc. v. Indian Harbor …
Continue ReadingSixth Circuit Upholds Kentucky’s Exacting Bad Faith Standards
Nat’l Sur. Corp. v. Hartford Cas. Ins. Co.
U.S. Ct. Apps., 6th Cir., October 9, 2012
An excess insurer sought reversal of the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the underlying insurer on its bad faith claims. The underlying action involved a weed trimmer head made by the insured that allegedly shattered during use and severely lacerated the leg of the underlying plaintiff. The insurer refused to settle the claim for its policy limit, $1 million. When negotiations fell through, the insurer …
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