Bad Faith Blog

Anastasia Fortson-Kemmerer (“Plaintiff”) sued Allstate Insurance Company (“Allstate”) to recover for bad faith and violation of the Insurance Fair Conduct Act (“IFCA”) for its actions when investigating her underinsured motorist (“UIM”) coverage claim. Allstate moved for summary judgment on the affirmative defense that Plaintiff’s previous action to enforce her UIM policy provisions operated as res judicata and barred her bad faith claim. The trial court granted summary judgment and Plaintiff appealed. The Washington Court of Appeals reversed, stating Allstate failed to demonstrate the operation of res judicata.

Summary: New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company (“NJM”) appealed the ruling that it breached its duty of good faith by failing to settle a claim against its insured which was within its policy limits. The New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, applied the reasonableness standard in assessing whether the claim for bad faith was proper.