PLEADING A DISPUTE OVER VALUE AND SUBMITTING MEDICAL RECORDS TO SUPPORT ONE VALUE DOES NOT MAKE OUT A BAD FAITH CLAIM (Western District)
This Western District UM bad faith decision aligns with recent Eastern and Middle District cases in finding that the insureds failed to plead a plausible bad faith claim.
Pleading Standards, General
Among other things, the court observed:
Although a complaint does not need to allege detailed factual allegations to survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a complaint must provide more than labels and conclusions.
A “formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.”
“Factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level” and be “sufficient to state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face.”
Facial plausibility exists “when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.”
“The plausibility standard is not akin to a ‘probability requirement,’ but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully. [ ] Where a complaint pleads facts that are ‘merely consistent with’ a defendant’s liability, it ‘stops short of the line between possibility and plausibility of ‘entitlement to relief.’”
Pleading Principles in Bad Faith Cases
The court also looked at prior case law in adducing pleading principles applied in insurance bad faith cases:
In the bad faith context, district courts have required more than “conclusory” or “bare-bones” allegations that an insurance company acted in bad faith by listing a number of generalized accusations without sufficient factual support.
Thus, the assessment of the sufficiency of a particular complaint often turns on the specificity of the pleadings and calls for recital of specific factual allegations from which bad faith may be inferred in order to defeat a motion to dismiss.
Where a complaint’s § 8371 bad faith claim simply relies upon breach of contract allegations, coupled with a conclusory assertion that the failure to pay under an insurance policy was “unreasonable” or made in bad faith, courts have dismissed such claims, but typically have afforded litigants an opportunity to further amend and articulate their bad faith claims.
A motion to dismiss will be granted where the “[p]laintiff’s generic invocation of statutory language is insufficient to satisfy his federal pleading burden.”
There is no plausible claim stated in a statutory bad faith case where the complaint is devoid of “any facts that describe who, what, where, when, and how the alleged bad faith conduct occurred.”
Application of Law to Facts Pleaded Leads to Dismissal with Leave to Amend
The complaint alleges plaintiffs were injured by an uninsured motorist and sought UM coverage from the carrier. The policy had $100,000/$300,000 limits. Plaintiffs submitted a demand package, including relevant medical records. The carrier offered a total of $23,000 to both plaintiffs. One plaintiff later submitted a lost wages claim of $18,000. The insurer increased the offer by another $3,000, but made clear it would not evaluate the lost wage claim.
Plaintiffs’ bad faith count relied on these factual allegations, which the court described as “breach of contract allegations,” and then added “a laundry list of generic allegations that may amount to bad faith….” This was not enough.
First, the court pointed out that plaintiffs failed to attach any exhibits to the complaint. Further, they did not plead “any facts to explain how or why the offer made by [the insurer] is nothing more than a legitimate dispute over the value of the claim.” The court made clear that disputes over value do “not necessarily give rise to bad faith; rather, a plaintiff must allege ‘factual content indicating that [the insurance company] lacked a reasonable basis for its tendered offer or that it knew or recklessly disregarded a lack of reasonable basis for the offer.”
The court dismissed the bad faith claim, with leave to amend.
