The Iowa Supreme Court recently reversed the appellate court’s denial of an insurer’s motion for a directed verdict, finding that United Fire did not breach the insurance policy and did not commit bad faith during a property appraisal. Luigi’s, Inc. …

Iowa Supreme Court Rejects Restaurant’s Allegations of Bad Faith and Breach of Contract After Appraisal Read more »

Waiver, estoppel and forfeiture are doctrines on which insureds often rely to try to create coverage outside the terms of the insurance policy. Insureds will often assert that they are entitled to such extra-contractual coverage based entirely on how the …

Avoid Creating Coverage By Estoppel, Waiver & Forfeiture: California Read more »

On March 8, 2021 the California Court of Appeal, reversing a $10 million verdict against Farmers, found that a jury must specifically find unreasonable acts by an insurer to support a “failure to settle” bad faith finding.  Pinto v. Farmers …

A Jury Must Find An Insurer Acted Unreasonably In Order To Find Bad Faith Failure to Settle Read more »

Illinois does not recognize bad faith as an independent tort. In the first-party context, bad faith is a purely statutory construct which hinges upon whether an insurer’s conduct was “vexatious and unreasonable.” Section 155 of the Illinois Insurance Code (215 …

Tips for Avoiding First-Party “Bad Faith” in Illinois Read more »

In two recent cases, the courts showed substantial deference to patients’ treating physicians in determining the reasonableness of medical treatment. This deference appears to reflect a reluctance of courts to decide what healthcare is appropriate for a patient. In Peterson …

Recent Bad Faith Cases Regarding Reasonableness of Medical Treatment Read more »

The key issue in insurance bad faith litigation is whether the claims professional reasonably handled the claim. Throughout the claims-handling process, the claims professional should constantly ask him-or-herself whether the investigation is sufficient to support a coverage determination and how …

Claims Handling: Questions Are the Answer Read more »

In Texas, and as a general rule, only the four corners of the policy and the four corners of the petition against the insured are relevant in deciding whether the duty to defend applies. Richards v. State Farm Lloyds, ___S.W.3d …

Texas Supreme Court Crafts “Undisputed Evidence of Collusive Fraud” Exception to Eight-Corners Rule Read more »

In Part I of this series, we explored the differences between institutional and non-institutional bad faith. For claims of institutional bad faith, plaintiffs often attempt to demonstrate a pattern and practice by offering evidence of claims of other policyholders. Unlike …

Defending Institutional Bad Faith Claims, Part III – Proof by Other Claims Read more »

In Part I of this series, we discussed institutional bad faith and best practices for insurers to minimize the risk of these costly and intrusive lawsuits. In Part II, we will focus on cutting discovery off at the pleadings—by narrowing …

Defending Institutional Bad Faith Claims, Part II – Focusing on Plausibility Read more »