News & Analysis as of

Punitive Damages Insurance Litigation

Cozen O'Connor

A New Era for Extra-Contractual Damages in Oregon - What We Know and What We Are Learning Six Months Since Moody

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The start of 2024 marked the end of an insurance era in Oregon. On December 29, 2023—the last Friday before the new year—the Oregon Supreme Court issued its much-anticipated decision in Moody v. Oregon Community Credit Union,...more

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Hinshaw Insurance Law TV | Bad Faith Law

Scott Seaman, Co-Chair of Hinshaw’s global Insurance Services Practice Group, is joined by Hilary Harmsworth and Sam Vardy of Howden Insurance Brokers to introduce a new fifty-state survey on U.S. bad faith law and to briefly...more

Marshall Dennehey

Pa. Supreme Court Evaluates Constitutional Parameters of a Jury’s Punitive Damage Award

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While it is well known that an insured has a clear and convincing standard of proving bad faith in order to recover such damages, it is lesser recognized that an insured does not have to prove outrageous conduct or evil...more

Wiley Rein LLP

California Court Asserts Insurer Bad Faith

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The United States District Court for the Southern District of California, applying California law, has held that a professional liability insurer acted in bad faith by unreasonably maintaining its position that its policy did...more

Hinshaw & Culbertson - Insights for Insurers

Punitive Damages Are Now Available in Wrongful Death and Survival Claims in Illinois

A new Illinois law that aims to increase jury awards demonstrates that juries are not the only culprits of social inflation. Certainly, juries can render nuclear and thermonuclear verdicts, disregard jury instructions, place...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Insurance Team Year End Review

Throughout 2022, Sheppard Mullin’s insurance practice group demonstrated excellence in all stages of litigation, continuing to solidify its role as trusted counsel to the nation’s leading insurers, including Liberty Mutual,...more

Epstein Becker & Green

Another Setback for UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company in Nevada Trial Just Days after $60 Million Punitive Verdict

On January 12, 2022, the closely watched Nevada lawsuit filed by emergency medicine providers against one of the largest health insurance companies in the world—UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company—was again the focus of...more

Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP

Orders Permitting/Denying Pursuit Of Punitive Damages Soon To Be Immediately Appealable

Some Florida practitioners and appellate courts have long pointed to the need to amend the rules of appellate procedure to allow for an interlocutory appeal of an order granting or denying a motion for leave to amend to...more

Zuckerman Spaeder LLP

In Nevada, Jury Finds against United Healthcare’s Efforts To Underpay for Emergency Medical Services and Generate Profits for...

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On November 29, 2021, a jury in Nevada found United Healthcare liable for underpaying TeamHealth, a nationwide provider of emergency medical services, by millions of dollars. The case, Fremont Emergency Services vs....more

Payne & Fears

Withholding Claims Notes Results in Severe Sanctions

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In Garcia v. Awerbach, 136 Nev. Adv. Op. 27 (May 21, 2020), the Supreme Court of Nevada reinstated a severe discovery sanction against a defendant who withheld a critical insurance claims note. In doing so, the Supreme Court...more

White and Williams LLP

$500,000 Punitive Damages Award in Bad Faith Action Shocks Delaware Court’s Conscience and Justifies New Trial on Liability and...

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The Delaware Superior Court in Powell v. AmGuard Insurance Company, C.A. No. K17C-11-003 JJC, 2020 Del. Super. LEXIS 109 (Del. Super. Ct. Mar. 2, 2020) (Clark, J.) recently held that a jury’s $500,000 punitive damages award...more

Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP

Regional Claim Supervisor Qualifies as “Managing Agent,” Supporting Award of Punitive Damages

In Mazik v. GEICO General Ins. Co. (No. B281372, filed 5/17/19), a California appeals court upheld a judgment and award of punitive damages for bad faith delay of an underinsured motorist claim, on the ground that a claim...more

Dickinson Wright

Sixth Circuit Allows Both Punitive Damages and Bad Faith Damages Against Insurance Company on Bad Faith Refusal to Pay

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Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Lindenberg v. Jackson Nat’l Life Ins. Co., 912 F.3d 348 (6th Cir. 2018), ruled that a plaintiff may recover both bad faith damages and punitive damages...more

Saul Ewing LLP

Not in Time: Complaint Remanded Where Insurer "Should Have Known" That the Amount in Controversy Exceeded the Jurisdictional...

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After their living room ceiling collapsed, Heather and David Hutchinson submitted a claim for approximately $25,000 in damages to State Farm Fire & Casualty Company under their homeowners' policy. State Farm denied the claim...more

Mayer Brown

Sixth Circuit Invalidates Tennessee’s Punitive-Damages Cap and Holds That Punitive Damages Are Available Under Tennessee Law For...

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Should divided panels of federal appellate courts really be deciding state-law issues of first impression? That’s what happened last month in Lindenberg v. Jackson National Life Insurance Co. In Lindenberg, two Sixth Circuit...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Sixth Circuit Rules That Tennessee Cap on Punitive Damages Is Unconstitutional

In 2011, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam signed the Tennessee Civil Justice Act, a tort reform measure limiting monetary damages. Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-39-104. This law places a cap on punitive damages of two times the...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

The Sixth Circuit Strikes Down Tennessee’s Cap on Punitive Damages

The Sixth Circuit recently issued a divided opinion holding that Tennessee’s statutory cap on punitive damages, Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-39-104, is unconstitutional. What makes the case interesting is that the court decided the...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

$25.5 Million Oklahoma Verdict: Jackpot Justice or Case Study on Bad Faith Litigation?

We all know how prevalent bad faith claims are. It seems like almost every case involving disputed policy benefits includes one. Many have no merit and should be disposed of on summary judgment. The rest, however, arguably...more

Payne & Fears

How Insurers Try To Limit Coverage For Punitive Damages

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Insurers treat it as a given that their policies do not cover punitive damages, and insureds often mistakenly accept that premise. However, there are circumstances in which punitive damages may be covered, and some insurers...more

Carlton Fields

SDNY Ruling Narrows Claims in COI Suit

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In EFG Bank AG, Cayman Branch v. AXA and The Duffy 2004 LLC v. AXA, in a February 14 ruling, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company earned a sweet victory on its motion for partial dismissal of the complaints in two...more

Carlton Fields

Dot The I’s And Cross The T’s: The Importance Of Clarity In Claim Communications And The Availability Of Punitive Damages For An...

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The Georgia Court of Appeals recently made waves in Hughes v. First Acceptance Insurance Company of Georgia, Inc., 343 Ga. App. 693 (2017). First, it aggrandized the role of a jury in determining the existence of an offer to...more

Jaburg Wilk

Arizona Jury Awards Over $6 Million Against Insurer in Bad Faith Case

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The Award - In McClure v. CC Services Inc. & Country Life Insurance Company dba Country Life Financial, an Arizona insurance bad faith case arising from a disability claim, a jury awarded $1.29 million in compensatory...more

Mayer Brown

Ninth Circuit Issues Mixed-Bag Decision On Punitive Damages In Insurance Bad-Faith Case

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The Ninth Circuit recently issued an unpublished memorandum opinion reducing a $2.5 million punitive award against GEICO to $1,064,282.44—four times the compensatory damages—in a Montana insurance bad-faith case. When it...more

Jaburg Wilk

Arizona District Court Denies Motion to Remand in Bad Faith Case, Despite Plaintiff Seeking Only $57,000 in Compensatory Damages

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The Holding - In Hoarau v. Safeco Ins. Co. of America, 2017 WL 3328078 (D.Ariz. August 4, 2017), the Arizona District Court denied an insured's Motion to Remand in an insurance bad faith, punitive damages, and declaratory...more

Jaburg Wilk

Arizona Reverses Award of Punitive Damages in Bad Faith Case Again

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The Holding - In Preciado v.Young American Insurnace Company, 2017 WL 2805631 ( Ariz.App . June 29, 2017) (unpublished), the Arizona Court of Appeals held the trial court erroneously failed to grant an Insurer’s motion for...more

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