JULY 2015 BAD FAITH CASES: SUPERIOR COURT FINDS (1) INSUREDS WAIVED APPELLATE REVIEW OF BAD FAITH CLAIMS BASED UPON DEFICIENCIES WITHIN INSUREDS’ Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) STATEMENT; (2) INSUREDS’ BAD FAITH CLAIMS ARE TIME-BARRED IN ANY EVENT (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, Non-Precedential)
In Mountainside Holdings, LLC v. American Dynasty Surplus Lines Ins. Co., the defendant insurers were excess directors and officers liability insurance carriers at the tertiary level, with primary coverage and the first layer of excess coverage providing $10,000,000 in coverage. The insureds raised bad faith and breach of contract claims against the insurers. The trial court granted summary judgment for the insurers.
The insureds presented several issues for consideration on appeal. However, the Superior Court found the issues waived due to the insureds’ deficient Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) statement. The appellate court agreed with the trial court’s holding that the insureds’ Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) statement was “too vague to allow the Court to respond.”
Nevertheless, the court went on to address the merits of summary judgment on the bad faith claim. It found that the insureds’ bad faith issues failed. The insureds specifically averred that the insurers “acted in bad faith when they denied coverage in their May 17, 1999 letter….” In upholding summary judgment on statute of limitations grounds, the court stated that statutory bad faith claims are subject to a two-year statute of limitations. Because the insureds began this action on January 14, 2003, all alleged bad faith allegations occurring prior to January 14, 2001 were time barred. Thus, the claim that the insurers acted in bad faith on May 17, 1999 when they issued their coverage denial letter was time-barred, even if the insureds had not waived their issues for appellate review.
Note: This is an unpublished decision, and cannot be used as precedential authority.
