Bad Faith Blog

A six-person jury returned a verdict against the Illinois State Medical Inter-Insurance Exchange Mutual Insurance Company (“ISMIE”) for bad-faith failure to settle. ISMIE argued on appeal that, among other things, trial of the bad faith claim to a six-person jury was unconstitutional. The First District Court of Appeals agreed and gave retroactive effect to an Illinois Supreme Court decision holding a recent statutory change limiting juries in civil cases to six people was unconstitutional.

On September 9, 2014, the Missouri Supreme Court unanimously struck down the State’s punitive damage cap in Lewellen v. Franklin, 2014 WL 4425202 (Mo. banc Sept. 9, 2014).