In Breedlove v. Hartford Life & Accident Insurance Co., 2011 WL 6132254 (M.D. Fla. December 9, 2011), Download Breedlove v. Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Co. (M.D. Fla. Case No. 6.11cv991, Order Filed December 9, 2011) PUBLIC ACCESS, Plaintiffs sued Hartford Life for failing to pay benefits allegedly due under an Accidental Death and Dismemberment Policy.
The Plaintiffs sued for alleged Breach of Contract in Count I, and alleged a claim for Breach of Good Faith and Fair Dealing at Florida Common Law in Count II of their First Amended Complaint. More specifically, the Plaintiffs alleged in Count II that the First-Party Insurer's Breach of Good Faith and Fair Dealing was "by failing to investigate, adjust, process, pay, or settle the claim in a timely, reasonable manner." Id. at *1.
Hartford Life filed a Motion to Dismiss Count II of the First Amended Complaint on the ground that Florida Common Law does not provide a cause of action or claim for First-Party Bad Faith "for an insurer's failure to investigate and assess an insured's claim within a reasonable time." Id. at *2.
The Federal Court granted the Motion to Dismiss Count II in this diversity case. "[T]he Court cannot locate any authority from a Florida court that supports the position that, in the first-party insurance context, a common law cause of action exists for breach of an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing for an insurer's failure to investigate and assess an insured's claim within a reasonable time." Id. at *2. The Federal Court noted that "some" district courts sitting in Florida have also refused to recognize such a cause of action, or claim, under such circumstances. Id. at *3. The Court recognized that sometimes one or more Federal Judges in the Southern District of Florida may seem, for a time, to permit such a cause of action or claim. See id. at *3. The occasional decisions of Judges in the Southern District of Florida who have written about the theoretical possibilities of a Florida Common Law cause of action for First-Party Bad Faith -- as opposed to a Statutory Bad Faith cause of action under Florida Statute Section 624.155 -- have previously been the subject of posts here, for example on January 7, 2010, and on Insurance Claims and Issues Web Log, for example on July 15, 2009.
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