In In Re State Farm Automobile Insurance Co. and Lindsey Nicole Dessart, 712 S.W.3d 53 (Tex. 2025), the Texas Supreme Court clarified the proper procedure for litigating bad faith claims related to uninsured/underinsured...more
An owner, general contractor (GC) and subcontractor (Sub) were sued by injured workers at a construction site, and they were defended by the Sub’s insurer, U.S. Specialty Insurance Company. U.S. Specialty tendered their...more
Hampton v. Progressive Insurance Company, Slip Copy, 2024 WL 2301366 - Robert Hampton purchased up to $15,000 in underinsured motorist coverage from Progressive for losses incurred in 2023. Steven Vicioso caused his car to...more
On July 1, 2024, new Virginia Code § 8.01-66.1 became effective and created a new bad faith cause of action that can be significant for underinsured or uninsured (“UIM”) carriers....more
One of the most powerful weapons an insurance company can use to defeat a bad faith claim is the “genuine dispute” doctrine. Under this doctrine, as long as there was a genuine dispute regarding coverage or the amount owed,...more
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On January 19, 2022, New Jersey’s Governor, Phil Murphy, passed S.B. 1559 into law, referred to as the New Jersey Insurance Fair Conduct Act (“IFCA”). The IFCA creates a private cause of action for injured motorists to sue...more
New Jersey has enacted an insurance bad faith statute that will penalize insurers for certain types of conduct in handling claims for uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage as the result of auto accidents. The new law...more
Brett McIsaac v. Foremost Insurance Company Grand Rapids, Michigan, A160389 (Sonoma County Super. Ct. No. SCV-265433) (Filed 4/30/21; certified for publication 5/19/21) - McIsaac had an auto insurance policy with Foremost...more
The Minnesota Supreme Court in the matter of Alison Joel Peterson v. Western National Mutual Insurance Company, 946 N.W.2d 903 (Minn. 2020) opined for the first time on the state’s bad faith statute (Minn. Stat. § 604.18) and...more
Your friend invites you out to dinner. She offers to pick you up since your house is on the way. As you head toward the restaurant, your friend’s car is sideswiped by a driver who blew through a red light. You are seriously...more
Earlier today the Washington Supreme Court issued its highly-anticipated decision in Keodalah v. Allstate Insurance Company. The coverage community was anxiously waiting to learn if an employee claims adjuster could be sued...more
In a surprising decision on rehearing, on February 4, 2019, a panel of the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal reversed itself and held that bad faith claims arising out an insurance contract are subject to a ten-year...more
In Keodalah v. Allstate Insurance Company, the Washington Supreme Court is set to determine whether individual insurance adjusters (as distinguished from the insurers for which they work) may be sued for bad faith and...more
After Melissa Parisi sustained injuries in a vehicle collision and learned that the other motorist involved in the crash carried only $15,000 in auto insurance, she submitted an underinsured motorist (UIM) claim to State...more
Poorly Drafted Bad Faith Claim Survives 12(b)(6) Motion in District of Maryland - In Barry v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 2018 WL 724068 (D. Md. 2018), husband and wife Plaintiffs sued their uninsured motorist (“UIM”)...more
In Florida, an insured cannot bring a first-party bad faith claim based on a claim for UM coverage unless the insured first files a Civil Remedy Notice (CRN) with the Florida Department of Financial Services. In Mathurin v....more
Plaintiff Mary Coppinger was injured in 2010 when her vehicle was rear-ended by Daniel Klein. Both Ms. Coppinger and Mr. Klein were insured through Defendant Allstate. Mr. Klein had a $50,000 policy limit; Ms. Coppinger had...more
Although the Arizona Court of Appeals resolved this issue 20 years ago, I frequently see insureds' counsel argue that an insurer must pay the "undisputed amount" of a UM or UIM claim—and I just saw this argument last week—so...more
Plaintiff Bernie Clemens was injured in a motor vehicle accident in August 2009. Clemens’ attorney helped him recover $25,000 in a supplementary underinsured motorist (SUM) claim, and then sued Clemens’ insurer under...more
MacKinney was involved in a motor vehicle accident and sought underinsured motorist coverage from Allstate. Allstate insured MacKinney’s vehicle under three policies. The total UIM coverage under the policies was $150,000,...more
South Carolina has never recognized a bad faith cause of action based upon the failure of an underinsured (UIM) carrier to settle a UIM claim. Maintaining the established precedent, the United States District Court recently...more
For years, when a bad faith action was brought pursuant to a jury verdict in excess of policy limits in the underlying UM claim, everyone assumed the jury verdict was binding in the bad faith action. Then, Bottini v. GEICO...more
In Zubillaga v. Allstate Indemnity Company (No. G052603, filed 6/19/17), a California appeals court ruled that triable issues about the insurer’s reliance on expert medical opinions precluded summary judgment on the genuine...more
Recently, the United States District Court held a plaintiff can maintain a claim for bad faith handling of Uninsured Motorists Coverage (“UM”) in the District of South Carolina. In Tucker v. Peerless Insurance Company, the...more