Bad faith and Extra-Contractual Liability
The landscape of insurance is becoming increasingly litigious, and the threat of punitive damages can swiftly escalate and exceed policy limits.
Preventative Defense
Our team of insurance lawyers strives to prevent extra-contractual litigation from ever occurring but are prepared to defend if litigation cannot be avoided. Our goal is to first identify the potential for litigation. We provide insight and preventative steps by:
- Conducting thorough pre-litigation investigations
- Evaluating existing coverage plans
- Providing advanced training of claim adjusters
- Scrutinizing claims practices to ensure areas of risk are identified early to prevent extra-contractual awards from ever being incurred
Litigating the Claim
Litigation of bad faith claims occasionally cannot be avoided, and our insurance group has extensive trial experience when the claim moves forward to litigation. Our lawyers understand that when bad faith or punitive damages are on the line, it is imperative to run an effective discovery program and be aggressive in all phases of the litigation and trial, if necessary.
Experience
Obtained summary judgment in favor of Lloyd’s syndicate upholding appraisal of time element claim, including all methodologies used by panel and determination of the period of restoration, as well as dismissal of extra-contractual/”bad faith” claims.
Represented an insurer in a first-party bad faith claim that was tried to verdict. Obtained a defense verdict on the plaintiff’s claim for punitive damages, and the verdict plaintiff obtained for compensatory damages was only a fraction of the amount plaintiff sought. Kevin and his colleagues subsequently successfully defended against plaintiff’s motion for a new trial.