Daily Archive for July 21st, 2021

The court found no coverage due for the insured’s business interruption losses resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. For those interested in the court’s reasoning on this hotly litigated issue, the opinion can be found here. Today, we limit ourselves to insurance bad faith law issues only.

The insured did not pursue a statutory bad faith claim, but only a common law claim for breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing. Having found no coverage due, Judge Gallagher, rejected the common law bad faith claim, stating:

‘[T]o recover under a claim of bad faith,’ the insured must show that the insurer ‘did not have a reasonable basis for denying benefits under the policy and that the insurer knew of or recklessly disregarded its lack of reasonable basis in denying the claim.’ ” Amica Mut. Ins. Co. v. Fogel, … (quoting Terletsky v. Prudential Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co., 649 A.2d 680, 688 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1994)); see also Treadways LLC v. Travelers Indem. Co., 467 F. App’x 143, 147 (3d Cir. 2012) (“Though we have held that bad faith may be found in circumstances other than an insured’s refusal to pay, ‘[a] reasonable basis is all that is required to defeat a claim of bad faith.’ ” (quoting J.C. Penney Life Ins. Co. v. Pilosi, 393 F.3d 356, 367 (3d Cir. 2004))).

“Pennsylvania courts have held that if the insurer properly denied a claim, the policyholder is unable to state a bad faith claim.” Kahn, … (citing Cresswell v. Pa. Nat’l Cas. Ins. Co., 820 A.2d 172, 179 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2003)). AGLIC properly denied Boscov’s insurance claims, so it did not act in bad faith. AGLIC’s alleged “failure to investigate” the matter also does not amount to bad faith. … Simply put, there was “nothing to investigate: coverage d[id] not exist on the face of [Boscov’s] claim[s].” Clear Hearing Sols., LLC v. Cont’l Cas. Co., … (rejecting bad faith claim premised on insurer’s denial of insurance coverage “without conducting any investigation”); Ultimate Hearing Sols. II, LLC v. Twin City Fire Ins. Co., … (same).

Date of Decision: June 30, 2021

Boscov’s Department Store, Inc. v. American Guarantee and Liability Insurance Co., No. 5:20-CV-03672-JMG, 2021 WL 2681591 (E.D. Pa. June 30, 2021) (Gallagher, J.)