NO BAD FAITH WHERE INSURER JUSTIFIABLY RELIES ON EXISTING CASE LAW PRECEDENT (New Jersey Appellate Division)
In this case, the parties disputed the law governing the allocation of insurance coverage payments. At the end of the day, there was no actionable bad faith.
The insurer paid costs for home modifications to cover the needs of the quadriplegic insured, as well as some medical costs, both payments totaling the number provided as the policy limit. The partially paid hospital providing services to the insured asserted, however, that the insurer’s manner of allocating the funds was incorrect, i.e., the policy limits should have gone entirely to its medical costs and expenses. Thus, the hospital argued the insurer must pay additional sums for medical costs it should have paid originally, instead of paying for the home modifications.
The New Jersey Appellate Division panel agreed that the insurer properly relied upon prior Appellate Division precedent both in the manner of allocating payment, and the insurer’s refusal to pay the hospital any sums beyond its policy limits. The court stated the insurer “processed the claim in good faith for the benefit of its insured” in justifiably relying on this case law.
The court recognized that an “insurance carrier may be liable for payments even if such payment exceeds the policy’s coverage limit, if the manner in which the carrier has handled a claim evidences ‘misconduct or bad faith.’” In this case, however, the insurer “acted in good faith reliance on” controlling precedent, “which is evidenced by the fact that it actually exhausted [the insured’s] policy in paying for his necessary home modifications.” There was no evidence of misconduct or bad faith, and no damages beyond what was already paid could be awarded.
