Life Insurance Beneficiary Held: First-Party, Not Third-Party.

   The Plaintiff in Hanneman v. Guarantee Trust Life Insurance Co., Download Hanneman v. Guarantee Trust Life Insurance Co. (N.D. Fla. Case No. 5.10cv115, Order Filed August 5, 2010) PUBLIC ACCESS also published as 2010 WL 3087509 (N.D. Fla. August 5, 2010)(Westlaw subscription required to access Westlaw), is a beneficiary under a Life Insurance Policy who sued for alleged Bad Faith.  The Defendant filed a Motion to Dismiss based on the ground that the Plaintiff had not provided the Civil Remedy Notice of Insurer Violation that is required by Florida's Bad Faith Statute, Fla. Stat. § 624.155.  The Plaintiff countered that she was pursuing a Common Law Third-Party Bad Faith action, not an action for Statutory Bad Faith.

   The Federal Court granted the Motion to Dismiss, holding that the Plaintiff's Claim was for First-Party Bad Faith which is not recognized at Florida Common Law.  Since the Plaintiff's only source of remedy was under the Bad Faith Statute, and since the Plaintiff had admittedly failed to provide the Notice required by that Statute and a condition precedent to Claims pursued under it, the Plaintiff's Bad Faith Complaint was dismissed:

   Plaintiff is not a third party asserting a claim against the [deceased] insured, Kilan Hochstetler.  She is not the type of third-party beneficiary contemplated under the common law of third-party bad faith claims.  Plaintiff's claim is properly treated as a first-party bad faith claim subject to the requirements of § 624.155.

Hanneman v. Guarantee Trust Life Insurance Co., 2010 WL 3087509 at *2.

   In short, the Court held in this case that a Beneficiary under a Life Insurance Policy is a "First Party," i.e., a party for whose benefit the Insurance Policy was issued, and she is not a stranger to the Insurance Policy.

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Comments

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