Bad Faith Blog

Summary: James Glenn and Latia Ballard were injured in a car accident on February 6, 2001. Glenn was driving and Ballard was a passenger. Both qualified as insureds under Glenn’s policy issued by Nationwide. Glenn and Ballard both submitted claims on the policy’s medical benefits coverage, which provided up to $5,000 to pay for medical services. At first, Nationwide allowed Glenn’s claim and issued him a check. After Glenn’s attorney returned the check asking that be made out to the medical provider, Nationwide denied both Glenn’s and Ballard’s claims.

In Scottsdale Ins. Co., et al. v. Addison Ins. Co., et al., No. WD75963 (Mo.App.W.D. Oct. 1, 2013), a “case of first impression,” the Missouri Court of Appeals both redefined the elements of a third-party bad faith failure to settle claim and recognized for the first time an excess carrier’s right to pursue a primary carrier under a theory of equitable subrogation to recover for a primary insurer’s bad faith failure to settle.

In a first-party insurance dispute, a Florida trial court entered a discovery order compelling disclosure to the insured of portions of the insurer’s claim file. The Florida Appellate Court reversed the trial court’s order, finding error in compelling disclosure of the insurer’s claim file because the coverage issue was still in dispute.