Bad Faith Elements State Law Survey


Summary

This survey summarizes the elements of bad faith actions against insurers. It provides authority for the available statutory causes of action, the common law standards of recovery, and recoverable damages. The survey covers all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. This survey also incorporates each state's key rulings and analyzes seminal decisions such as the Ninth Circuit's discussion of an insurer's duty of good faith in settlement discussions, the Alaska Supreme Court's examination of a bad faith cause of action by an additional insured, the Illinois Appellate Court's disregarding of an insurer's payment of one insured's policy limits as an absolute defense to another insured's bad faith claim, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's declaration that a violation of the Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act may result in the trebling of a multimillion underlying judgment, and the Texas Supreme Court's clarification that policy benefits can be recovered as statutory ...