NOVEMBER 2017 BAD FAITH CASES: FIRST PARTY BAD FAITH CLAIM POSSIBLE EVEN IF NO CONTRACT OF INSURANCE BETWEEN INSURED AND AN INSURER MERELY SERVICING POLICY, ANALOGIZING TO DUTIES IMPOSED ON AGENTS (New Jersey Federal)
The insureds were homeowners who suffered property damage. “They were insured under a Prestige Home Premier Policy, issued by Fireman’s Fund, underwritten by National Surety, and serviced by ACE American.” The insureds alleged they reported the claim promptly, and interacted with representatives of the various insurer defendants for 20 months, but did not receive full payment on their claim. ACE sought to dismiss the breach of contract and bad faith claims on the basis that it did not issue any insurance policy, but rather National Surety was the insurer.
The court would not dismiss the complaint. First, it remained unclear on the face of the pleading if there was some kind of contract with ACE. The more interesting holding was that a potential bad faith claim could exist even if there were no insurance policy issued by ACE, rejecting the argument that “without a contract there can be no claim for bad faith.” The court specifically did not accept the argument that any cause of action can only arise out of the implied contractual duty of good faith and fair dealing.
The court looked to the leading first party bad faith case of Pickett v. Lloyds. The court ruled, “Pickett itself … seems to contemplate a bad faith cause of action against a party other than the primary insurance company. Indeed, it reasoned that because an agent owes a duty to the insured, the insurer must ‘owe[] an equal duty.’” It referenced Picket as “affirming a jury award where the jury found the insurer’s agent liable ‘for a lack of good faith and fair dealing outside of its agency relationship with Lloyd’s [the insurer]’ and stating that ‘[a]gents of an insurance company are obligated to exercise good faith and reasonable skill in advising insureds’”
Thus, the court held that “[e]ven if the [insureds] fail to establish the existence of a contract with ACE American, their bad faith cause of action may still be viable.”
Date of Decision: October 20, 2017
Fischer v. National Surety Corp., Civ. No. 16-8220 (KM) (MAH), 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174267 (D.N.J. Oct. 20, 2017) (McNulty, J.)
