Bad Faith Blog

The Tenth Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of State Farm on the insureds’ count for bad faith relating to a property damage claim. The court found State Farm relied upon a legitimate dispute of the scope of coverage in initially denying and delaying agreement to an appraisal. The court further found the insureds had produced no evidence to support their claim State Farm performed an inadequate investigation of the claim. The insureds disputed the findings of State Farm’s investigation was insufficient to infer the investigation was inadequate.

Elizabeth Baires was in a car accident with an underinsured driver while insured by State Farm. After State Farm consented to settling with the underinsured motorist for its $100,000 limits, plaintiff and her husband demanded that State Farm settle her claims for the $200,000 UIM stacked limits. State Farm refused her demand, leading to plaintiff and her husband filing suit for breach of contract, loss of consortium, and bad faith refusal to pay plaintiff’s claim. Thereafter, the federal district court granted State Farm’s motion for partial summary judgment on the bad faith claim.