NOT FOR CONTRACT CLAIM OR UNREASONABLE AND VEXATIOUS CONDUCT CLAIM UNDER ILLINOIS INSURANCE CODE.
A breach of a homeowner's insurance contract claim, even though the claim includes allegations of bad faith, is not subject to a "heightened fraud pleading requirement" under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b), the District Court held in Wheeler v. Assurant Specialty Prop., 125 F. Supp. 3d 834, 840 (N.D. Ill. 2015). There the breach of contract claim "exists independent of any allegations of fraud or deception contained in the complaint."
Further, a claim of unreasonable and vexatious insurer conduct is actionable under the Illinois Insurance Code, the same Court further held. Wheeler v. Assurant Specialty Prop., 125 F. Supp. 3d 834, 840-41 (N.D. Ill. 2015). The Court refused to "apply Rule 9(b)'s pleading requirements to conduct that does not necessarily sound in fraud" even if the alleged conduct sounds in bad faith. Wheeler v. Assurant Specialty Prop., 125 F. Supp. 3d 834, 841 (N.D. Ill. 2015).
Please Read The Disclaimer. ©2016 by Dennis J. Wall, author of Litigation and Prevention of Insurer Bad Faith (3d ed. Thomson Reuters West in 2 Volumes, with Supplements). All rights reserved.
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