"Tender" of money involves a complete parting with the right to spend it, in basic terms. Thus, when a settlement demand (or offer) requires a "tender" of Policy Limits, for example, it is generally understood that an offer in response to pay the Policy Limits is not necessarily Good Faith because it is not technically a "tender" of the Policy Limits.
In Boateng v. GEICO General Insurance Co., Download Boateng v. GEICO General Insurance Co. (S.D. Fla. Case No. 10.CIV.60147, Order Filed November 22, 2010) PUBLIC ACCESS, also published as 2010 WL 4822601 (S.D. Fla. November 22, 2010)(authorized Westlaw password required to access Westlaw), there was no "tender" of the full Policy Limits (one for one injured Claimant and another for one Wrongful Death) but still there was NO Third Party Bad Faith in a Failure to Settle Case.
It is crucial to the outcome in this case that GEICO offered to pay Plaintiff the policy limits within a short time after the accident, even though, argued the Plaintiff's Attorney, "GEICO never tendered the policy limits." Boateng v. GEICO General Insurance Co., 2010 WL 4822601 at *1. "Here, GEICO did contact Plaintiff shortly after the accident to begin the process of settling Plaintiff's claim." Id. at *5 n.3.
GEICO's activities following the accident are detailed in id. at *3-*5. On this record, the Federal Court was of the view that "GEICO initiated settlement negotiations with Plaintiff and Plaintiff did not respond. Instead, Plaintiff retained an attorney whose first move was to file a bad faith claim against GEICO." Id. at *5.
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