Settlement, Appeals, Bad Faith

Seventh Circuit Affirms Judgment Dismissing Bad Faith Claim Without Viable Breach of Contract Claim

Carlton Fields on 7/28/2025

In Wolf v. Riverport Insurance Co., the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of an insured’s bad faith settlement delay claim against her insurer after she attempted to recover under section 155 of the...more

NJ Supreme Court Holds Municipalities Can Be Sanctioned for Frivolous Litigation

Fox Rothschild LLP on 5/13/2025

Municipalities are not immune from sanctions under the state’s Frivolous Litigation Statute, the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled in an appeal that stemmed from affordable housing litigation. In a unanimous decision, the...more

Divided Ninth Circuit Finds Claimant’s Failure to Provide Medical Records Insulates Insurer From Bad Faith Failure to Settle

Carlton Fields on 5/6/2025

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. An age-old adage that now provides critical guidance for insurers seeking to protect themselves in the face of bad faith failure to settle claims....more

More Stringent California Claim Law Could Benefit Policyholders

Farella Braun + Martel LLP on 4/20/2023

To combat a perceived litigation tactic by plaintiffs counsel of using settlement demands within policy limits to set up insurers for bad faith, insurance company associations lobbied for statutory clarification to avoid...more

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal Rules that Excess Insurer Cannot Challenge Exhaustion of Underlying Insurance on Coverage Grounds

Greenberg Glusker LLP on 9/18/2020

In Axis Reinsurance Co. v. Northrop Grumman Corporation, 2020 DJDAR 10114 (9th Cir. Sept. 14, 2020), a case of first impression under California law, the Ninth Circuit held that an excess insurer may not dispute exhaustion of...more

When Evidentiary Error Matters: Eleventh Circuit Affirms Decision to Grant Retrial

Carlton Fields on 1/25/2019

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently closed the book on litigation in which GEICO had been involved since 2010, holding that the granting of a retrial—which resulted in a GEICO victory after an initial...more

Gust, Inc. v. Alphacap Ventures LLC

Knobbe Martens on 10/2/2018

Federal Circuit Summary - Before Wallach, Linn and Hughes. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Summary: In determining whether to award sanctions under 28 U.S.C. § 1927,...more

Dot The I’s And Cross The T’s: The Importance Of Clarity In Claim Communications And The Availability Of Punitive Damages For An...

Carlton Fields on 3/7/2018

The Georgia Court of Appeals recently made waves in Hughes v. First Acceptance Insurance Company of Georgia, Inc., 343 Ga. App. 693 (2017). First, it aggrandized the role of a jury in determining the existence of an offer to...more

Is It Bad Faith to Exercise a Contractual Right?

Cozen O'Connor on 12/15/2017

A recent malpractice case highlighted this issue. In Johnson v. Proselect Insurance, the doctor/insured contended that the insurer acted in bad faith by settling a claim after trial without the doctor’s consent. The doctor...more

Spilman Alert - Breaking Insights: Shutting Another Door on Suing Insurance Companies in West Virginia

Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC on 11/21/2017

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals recently closed an avenue for bad faith claims. In this case, the insured, CMD, sued its own liability insurance company, State Auto, for not settling the claims asserted against it...more

Florida 4th DCA Reiterates Insurers Negligence Not Enough to Sustain Bad Faith Claim

Rumberger | Kirk on 1/18/2017

Directs Judgment to be Entered in Favor of Insurer - In GEICO v. Harvey, (Fla. 4th DCA Jan. 4, 2017), Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal held that the trial court erred in denying the insurer’s motion for directed...more

Eighth Circuit: No Bad Faith Where Insured Failed to Make a Sufficient Demand and Insurer Refused to Entertain Settlement Offer...

Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP on 8/7/2015

Purscell v. Tico Ins. Co., No. 13-2362, 2015 WL 3855253 (8th Cir. June 22, 2015). Court holds it was not bad faith for insurer to pursue investigation into underlying lawsuit before considering settlement demand. ...more

Insurer’s Liability for Breach of Contract Is Not a Condition Precedent to Insured’s Bad Faith Claim

Proskauer Rose LLP on 10/1/2014

A Florida appeals court recently held in Cammarata v. State Farm Florida Insurance Co. that an insured is not required to show that its insurer breached the insurance policy before it can bring a claim for bad faith. Although...more

Court Escalates a $4 million Covenant Judgment to a $20 million Bad Faith Judgment

Cozen O'Connor on 5/7/2014

Last week, the Washington Court of Appeals held that “in an insurance bad faith case, the amount of a reasonable covenant judgment sets a floor, not a ceiling, on the damages the jury may award.” Miller v. Safeco Ins. Co.,...more

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