As we said when we started this series of posts, it is rare to find news stories about insurance bad faith cases. This case, against Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., is remarkable because of the punitive damage award — the $18 million referred to in the headline. That is a drop in the ocean for such a big company (Nationwide reported net income of $1.35 billion for 2013), but, then, the initial claim was worth just $25,000.
A woman we know remembers being in a two-car accident. Her vehicle was drivable, but there was significant damage. When it came back from shop, everyone agreed that it just didn’t drive or ride as well. It was soon a family joke to comment that the Jeep just hadn’t been the same since the accident.
We are talking about a bad faith case against Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. The policyholders won the most recent round in the years-long litigation, with the court ordering Nationwide to pay $18 million in punitive damages. Nationwide is appealing that decision.
We don’t often have the chance to discuss a bad faith lawsuit against an insurance company. The cases may settle out of court, or they may not be interesting enough to get the attention of even legal periodicals. Whatever the reason, an excellent example of bad faith crossed our desks in a case about a couple’s decades-long fight over an auto claim.
New legislation is now heading to the office of our Florida Governor. If passed, it would prohibit insurance companies from using credit information to deny homeowner claims.
We are talking about a bad faith lawsuit that settled for $18 million. The case is not from Florida, but, as we said in our last post, it’s rare for even legal periodicals to write about these cases. That is not to say, however, that bad faith litigation is rare.
It isn’t often that an insurance bad faith lawsuit finds its way into the news, so when one does come up we jump at the opportunity to talk about it — even if it has nothing to do with Florida.
Families in Florida might be growing extremely frustrated with insurance claims as many families are trying to seek compensation for repairs caused by sinkholes. Sinkholes aren’t uncommon in Florida, and many homeowners are facing a difficult time getting their problem resolved.
We are continuing our series about an unusual bad faith insurance case. As we have said, the case does not directly involve Florida residents or insurance policies that were purchased here. We thought the case was worth some time because it is an unusual insurance coverage dispute that involves high-profile individuals and, of course, a whiff of scandal.
This is the last post in our series about a breach of faith insurance claim brought by actor Keith Carradine’s ex-wife, Sandra Will Carradine, against her insurance company. She claims that she contacted her insurance company in 2006 when her ex-husband sued her. The insurer neither accepted nor rejected her claim until 2011, when it finally agreed to provide a defense. She is now suing the insurance company for the money she spent on her own defense during those five years.
