In a bad faith failure-to-settle case arising under Florida law, a Federal District Court applied the prevailing national standard for measuring extracontractual liability in alleged bad-faith-failure-to-settle cases: "Here, there is a complete absence of evidence that State Farm acted solely on the basis of its own interests as to Coulter's claim." Coulter v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 2014 WL 197693 *6 (N.D. Fla. January 16, 2014).
To put it another way: "To fulfill the duty of good faith, an insurer does not have to act perfectly, prudently, or even reasonably. Rather, insurers must 'refrain from acting solely on the basis of their own interests in settlement.'" Novoa v. GEICO Indemnity Co., 542 Fed. Appx. 794, 796 (11th Cir. 2013), quoting State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Laforet, 658 So. 2d 55, 58 (Fla. 1995).
© 2014 by Dennis J. Wall. All rights reserved. No claim to original U.S. Government works.
Please Read The Disclaimer.