FACTUALLY BEREFT COMPLAINT NOT SAVED BY ALLEGING BAD FAITH WILL BE SUPPORTED BY “SUCH OTHER ACTS TO BE SHOWN THROUGH DISCOVERY” (Philadelphia Federal)
The Eastern District court dismissed this UIM bad faith claim because the pleading was devoid of factual support.
The insufficiently pleaded bad faith allegations consisted of “(a) failure to negotiate plaintiff’s underinsured motorist claim; (b) failure to properly investigate and evaluate plaintiff’s underinsured motorist claim; [and] (c) failure to request a defense medical examination of the plaintiff . . . .” The only other allegation putatively supporting the bad faith count was the claim would rest on “such other acts to be shown through discovery.” These allegations amounted to mere “legal conclusions bereft of factual support.”
The court relied on Judge Slomsky’s decision in Kiessling and Judge Leeson’s Krantz opinion for the general pleading failures, as well as Judge Baylson’s 2011 Eley opinion rejecting the “such other acts to be shown through discovery” type of allegation as a means to preserve the bad faith cause of action.
Date of Decision: January 21, 2020
Velazquez v. Progressive American Insurance Co., U. S. District Court Eastern District of Pennsylvania CIVIL ACTION NO. 19-3665, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9311 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 21, 2020) (Joyner, J.)
