Bad Faith Blog

Summary: After an evening of under-age drinking, Jacob Patton drove his father’s minivan while his friend, John Donaldson, rode in the passenger seat. When Jacob saw the sirens from a police car, he panicked and attempted to flee. After a short chase, Jacob lost control of the van and crashed into a tree. Donaldson was seriously injured and was hospitalized for almost a month. A blood analysis revealed Jacob had a blood alcohol content of .20.

Summary: Progressive Casualty Insurance Company (“Progressive”) issued a Directors and Officers (D&O) Liability Policy to the National Bank of California (“Bank”) on October 30, 2010. The Declarations Page stated that the defense costs were included within the limit on liability. The policy further gave the insured a defense option, but the Bank did not choose the defense option for D&O Liability. The Bank presented six separate claims to Progressive to which Progressive asserted multiple affirmative defenses. The Bank and Progressive then filed multiple partial motions for summary judgments relating to key issues regarding the claims handling. Only two of those complex issues are addressed here.