In Liang v. Progressive Cas. Ins. Co., 2019 WL 1925954 (N.Y. App. Div., 2d Dep't, Feb. 5, 2019), the appellate court agreed with the trial court that there are "triable issues of fact" on the Underinsured Motorist Claim that Mr. Liang filed as administrator of his mother's estate.
The appellate court also agreed with the trial court that under New York standards of insurer bad faith, "[h]ere, Progressive established, prima facie, that it did not act in bad faith, since its conduct, under the circumstances, did not constitute a gross disregard of Liang's interests."
The appellate court continued:
Progressive conducted an investigation and had an arguable basis for disclaiming coverage (citations omitted). In opposition, the plaintiff's conclusory assertions failed to raise a triable issue of fact as to whether Progressive's conduct constituted a gross disregard of Liang's interests (citations omitted).
The only disagreement between the appellate court and the trial court in this case was that the appellate court ordered that Progressive's motion for summary judgment should have been granted on the bad faith claim, and not simply that the bad faith claim should be dismissed. Liang v. Progressive Cas. Ins. Co., 2019 WL 1925954, at *3 (N.Y. App. Div., 2d Dep't, Feb. 5, 2019).
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