ASSIGNEE LACKS STANDING IF NOT THE INJURED PARTY; BAD FAITH BASED ON LACK OF COMMUNICATION POSSIBLE; 9-10 MONTH DELAY ALONE CANNOT CREATE BAD FAITH (Philadelphia Federal)

A plaintiff has no standing as a section 8371 assignee unless that plaintiff is both (a) a party injured by the insured and (b) a judgment creditor of the insured. In this case, the plaintiff lacked standing because he did not meet those two requirements.
A bad faith claim can be based on the insurer’s failure to communicate with the insured. As we have repeatedly stated on this blog, see for example this January 2020 post and this August 2020 post, it is questionable whether a failure to communicate, or any other standalone claim handling failure, can be the basis for an independently cognizable bad faith claim; or whether poor claim handling is merely a matter of evidence that can be used to prove bad faith where a benefit actually has been denied. This post from April 2021 has additional discussion on the issue of whether bad faith can exist if no coverage obligation is due, i.e., it addresses the idea that poor claims handling cannot create a statutory bad faith claim in the absence of any actual denial of benefits.

Delay, standing alone, may not constitute bad faith. The court, as a matter of law, citing earlier case examples, found a 9-10 month claim handling delay in itself could not constitute bad faith. Thus, the court states: “Assuming arguendo that the entirety of this delay was attributable to [the insurer], a period of nine or ten months, without more, is insufficient to establish bad faith.”

Published by PA Bad Faith Blog