TWO EASTERN DISTRICT CASES ON INADEQUATE PLEADINGS - (1) BARE-BONES CLAIM WITH NO FACTUAL SUPPORT DISMISSED EVEN THOUGH CONTRACT CLAIM PROCEEDS; (2) COMPLAINT DEVOID OF FACTUAL SPECIFICITY CANNOT STAND
The insured alleged the nature of the loss, putative damages, and the policy covered the loss. The court agreed these allegations withstood the insurer’s motion to dismiss the breach of contract claim. Though not detailed in the opinion, the court obviously concluded that the facts as pleaded would fall within the policy’s coverage terms.
On the bad faith claim, however, no plausible claim was pleaded. The court dismissed the claim without prejudice, giving leave to amend if possible.
The flawed complaint asserted that the insurer had no reasonable and sufficient basis to deny coverage, but did “not contain any factual allegations that relate to why Defendants’ alleged acts or omissions were unreasonable.” The court cited a number of decisions for the proposition that “bare-bones allegations of bad faith such as these, without more, are insufficient to survive a motion to dismiss.” These include the Third Circuit’s Smith decision, and the Eastern District decisions in McDonough and Atiyeh.
Date of Decision: March 4, 2020
Park v. Evanston Ins. Co., U.S. District Court Eastern District of Pennsylvania CIVIL ACTION No. 19-4753, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37778 (E.D. Pa. Mar. 4, 2020) (Schiller, J.)
Case 2
In Shetayh v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Company, the insureds alleged the insurer fraudulently denied coverage, falsely alleging a property was used for business purposes. They sued for breach of contract and bad faith.
The insureds alleged that the insurer knew the business purpose allegation “was false, fraudulent and misleading and made solely for the purpose of denying coverage and preventing Plaintiffs from obtaining the benefits owed under their policy of insurance.” The insureds remaining bad faith averments were generic in nature, e.g., the insurer was unreasonable in withholding benefits, conducted an unfair investigation, failed to keep the insureds adequately advised, etc.
As the insurer stated in moving to dismiss the bad faith count, “these generic averments … could fit any category of insurance claim….” In response, the insureds simply repeated the allegation that the insurer’s agent knew his statement about business purposes was false, as adequately underpinning the entire bad faith claim.
The court agreed with the insurer.
Bad faith plaintiffs “must plead specific facts as evidence of bad faith and cannot rely on conclusory statements.” Judge Leeson cited the Third Circuit’s Smith decision, just as Judge Schiller did in Park. Judge Leeson found the complaint “devoid of factual specificity”, relying solely on conclusory allegations. Thus, the complaint could not survive a motion to dismiss.
As in Park, dismissal was without prejudice and with leave to amend. The court made clear, however, that “any amended complaint must specifically include facts to address who, what, where, when, and how the alleged bad faith conduct occurred.”
Among other cases, Judge Leeson relied on the following decisions in reaching his conclusion: MBMJ (which had virtually identical paragraphs in the bad faith count); Rosenberg; Fasano; and Alidjani.
Date of Decision: March 6, 2020
Shetayh v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., U.S. District Court Eastern District of Pennsylvania No. 5:20-cv-00693, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39036 (E.D. Pa. Mar. 6, 2020) (Leeson, J.)
