TWO NON-PRECEDENTIAL BAD FAITH OPINIONS FROM PENNSYLVANIA’S SUPERIOR COURT: (1) INSUREDS’ CONDUCT AND STATE OF MIND ARE NOT WHAT DETERMINES AN INSURER’S BAD FAITH, RATHER IT IS THE INSURER’S OWN CONDUCT; (2) BAD FAITH PLEADING INADEQUATE
In Wilson v. Erie Insurance Group, the Superior Court reversed the entry of a judgment for non pros on a bad faith claim which had been in suit for 16 years.
Among other points, the appellate court observed that the focus in bad faith cases is the insurer’s conduct and state of mind, not the insured’s. Thus, the Court observed:
[B]ad faith applies to “those actions an insurer took when called upon to perform its contractual obligations of defense and indemnification or payment of a loss that failed to satisfy the duty of good faith and fair dealing implied in the parties’ insurance contract.” In order to prove bad faith, a plaintiff must show by clear and convincing evidence that the insurer did not have a reasonable basis for denying benefits under the policy, and knew or recklessly disregarded its lack of reasonable basis in denying the claim. … Thus, the insured’s argue, a bad faith action turns on the reasonableness of the conduct of the insurer, not the insured. …
Similarly, although the [insureds] could not remember the timing of … settlement offers, and the amount of those offers, it did not impair [the insurer’s] ability to defend the case. All of that information is documented in [the insurer’s] files or, in some cases, admitted in the pleadings. The fact that the [the insureds] could not remember if they had any expectations in terms of settlement was of no consequence as their expectations are irrelevant in this bad faith case. See Rhodes v. USAA Casualty Ins. Co., 2011 PA Super 105, 21 A.3d 1253 (Pa.Super. 2011) (holding expectations of the insureds are not material to bad faith liability). It is difficult to imagine how [the insurer] was substantially impaired in its ability to present a defense by the [the insureds’] inability to recall these details. Moreover, if [the insurer] genuinely required that information, it would not have waited until 2018 to take the depositions.
In Feingold v. State Farm, the Superior Court dealt with an unusual set of procedural circumstances, but we only focus on its discussion of bad faith pleading standards. The court states:
An insured has a cause of action “if the court finds that the insurer has acted in bad faith toward the insured[.]” 42 Pa.C.S. § 8371. To prove a bad faith claim, the insured must present clear and convincing evidence that (1) the insurer did not have a reasonable basis for denying benefits under the policy, and (2) the insurer knew or recklessly disregarded its lack of reasonable basis in denying the claim. …
Based on our review of his complaint, [plaintiff-assignee] failed to allege either requisite element. First, [plaintiff-assignee] averred that after the UIM arbitration award, [the insurer] informed him that it did not believe the [the insureds] were entitled to UIM damages under their policy. [The] complaint did not allege that [the insurer] was without a reasonable basis for denying benefits. Second, [plaintiff-assignee] averred only that [the insurer] did not advise him of a specific reason for denying the … UIM claims. This is not sufficient to demonstrate that [the insurer] knew or recklessly disregarded its lack of a reasonable basis for denying the claim. Accordingly, we find no abuse of discretion or error in the trial court’s determination that the bad faith claim was frivolous.
Date of Decision: May 17, 2018
Feingold v. State Farm Insurance Co., Superior Court of Pennsylvania No. 2340 EDA 2018, No. 2833 EDA 2018, 2019 Pa. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 1931 (Pa. Super. Ct. May 17, 2019) (Kunselman, Murray, Pelligrinia, JJ.)
