OCTOBER 2017 BAD FAITH CASES: PLEADING UIPA VIOLATIONS NOT FATAL WHERE THEY ARE NOT THE SOLE BASIS FOR STATUTORY BAD FAITH CLAIMS; COMPENSATORY AND CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES NOT WITHIN BAD FAITH STATUTE (Middle District of Pennsylvania)
This bad faith case asserting common law and statutory bad faith, as well as regulatory violations, alleged the following.
The insured owned property covered under a homeowner’s insurance policy. In June of 2014, the insured entered into a listing contract with a real estate agent for the sale of the property. The insured relocated out of state two months later. In October of 2014, the insured accepted an offer to sell the property for $275,000. Before the sale, the real estate agent discovered that water pipes had burst, causing significant damage.
It was alleged that an adjuster for the insurer estimated the damage at $80,000, and suggested that the insured may have sabotaged the property. The insured asserted there was no reason to sabotage the property because the $275,000 sale price far exceeded the amount left on the mortgage, and the buyer remained willing to purchase the property so long as repairs were made. The insurer wrote to the insured regarding coverage obligations and requesting further documentation. The insured timely responded to insurer’s request and provided the requested information.
The insurer referred the claim to its fraud unit. The insured provided requested information to the fraud unit, and sat for multiple examinations under oath. The insurer also requested phone records, financial information, and utility records.
The sale of the property fell through, and the property entered foreclosure proceedings. Counsel for the insured requested documentation from the insurer. The insurer allegedly failed to provide all of the requested documentation, but maintained its request for the insured’s cell phone records and financial information.
The insurer ultimately forwarded benefits totaling $110,510.20 to the insured. However, the insured estimated her damages at $155,785, and filed suit for breach of contract and bad faith, among other claims.
The insurer responded by filing a motion to dismiss the insured’s breach of contract claim. The Court refused to dismiss this claim, holding that the complaint “sufficiently sets forth the damages [the insured] purportedly suffered as a result of [the insurer’s] conduct.”
The insurer also filed a motion to strike the insured’s allegations of violations of the Unfair Insurance Practices Act (“UIPA”) and of Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Regulations (“UCSP”), arguing that these alleged violations cannot serve as the basis for private statutory bad faith claims. The Court stated that violations of the UIPA or UCSP are not per se violations of the bad faith statute, and added that the “Third Circuit and this Court have held that alleged violations of the Unfair Insurance Practices Act do not, in and of themselves, constitute bad faith….”
The Court refused to strike those allegations, however, because the insured’s “bad faith claim does not rest solely on alleged UIPA or UCSP violations.”
The insured’s breach of contract claim included an alleged a breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. The insurer also moved to strike this claim, arguing that the breach of contract claim subsumed it. The Court ruled that “as [the insured] has not pled a separate breach of contract claim, [the reference] may properly remain in the Complaint.”
Lastly, the Court struck the insured’s claims for compensatory and consequential damages, holding that such damages are not available under the Pennsylvania bad faith statute.
