Bad Faith Blog
We cover current issues, highlights and best practices exclusively on claims of bad faith and extra contractual damages.
Under Ohio law, Bad Faith Claims Can Be Brought Against Insurers Even If There Is No Basis For Coverage
Summary: James Glenn and Latia Ballard were injured in a car accident on February 6, 2001. Glenn was driving and Ballard was a passenger. Both qualified as insureds under Glenn’s policy issued by Nationwide. Glenn and Ballard both submitted claims on the policy’s medical benefits coverage, which provided up to $5,000 to pay for medical services. At first, Nationwide allowed Glenn’s claim and issued him a check. After Glenn’s attorney returned the check asking that be made out to the medical provider, Nationwide denied both Glenn’s and Ballard’s claims.
Bad Faith Claims in Indiana May be Dismissed when the Facts Alleged Clearly Exclude Coverage
Summary: The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, applying Indiana law, considered an insurer’s duty to defend under a commercial general liability policy. The insured sued its insurer in the Southern District of Indiana for breach of contract and bad faith and sought a declaratory judgment that the insurer had a duty to defend. Since the complaint did not allege facts which would establish coverage, the District Court’s dismissal was affirmed.
Expanded Coverage Coming Soon
We at Sandberg Phoenix want our Bad Faith Blog to cover bad faith law in as many jurisdictions as possible. For that reason, we will be posting important and seminal cases from several jurisdictions we have not previously reported on during the last 5 years. You will note some of these cases are decades old, but these older cases established the bad faith law in these jurisdictions. The same law discussed in forthcoming posts is alive and well to this day. We are hopeful our reporting on these cases covers the general bad faith law in those jurisdictions we have not yet covered. Hopefully this effort assists those attorneys and insurance professionals who practice or handle claims in these jurisdictions.
Bad Faith and UIM Coverage
Here the issue was the conduct of the insurer under in handling a claim for underinsured motorist coverage. The injured insured had presented evidence of future wage loss of over $4,000,000.00, but liability coverage of only $3,000,000.00.