underinsured Archives - The Insurance & Reinsurance Report

June 11, 2015 Bad Faith and Extra-Contractual Liability

No Bad Faith Where Insurer’s Valuation of Claimant’s Injuries is in the Ballpark

In Hicks v. Progressive Casualty Insurance Co., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71985 (C.D. Cal. June 1, 2015), the district court held that Progressive did not breach the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing through its investigation of, and subsequent dispute of, plaintiff Chris Hicks’ damages in an arbitration of Hicks’ underinsured motorist claim.

Hicks was a passenger in an automobile driven by his mother and insured by Progressive when, on August 12, 2006, the automobile was involved in an accident with a …

February 23, 2015 Bad Faith and Extra-Contractual Liability

District 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 …