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The Iowa Supreme Court summarized the law in this area in the context of a first-party bad faith case, Villareal v. United Fire & Cas. Co., 873 N.W.2d 714, 727 (Iowa 2016):
This means that claim files are not covered by the work product doctrine except insofar as they contain documents that would not have been prepared but for anticipated litigation. See Dennis J. Wall, Litigation and Prevention of Insurer Bad Faith § 12:5 (3rd ed. 2011) (“Where the insured's complaint states a cause of action for first-party bad faith, the claims adjuster's files can generally be discovered. Work product objections will lie in particular cases.”).
Unlike third-party bad faith cases, a first-party bad faith case does not provide any assistance by the nature of the bad faith claim either that the discovering party cannot obtain the substantial equivalent by other means, or that the discovering party cannot do without the requested materials in the preparation of its case without undue hardship.
As the Iowa Supreme Court noted, Discovery of Claim Files in first-party cases is discussed in 2 Dennis J. Wall, Litigation and Prevention of Insurer Bad Faith § 12:5 (West 3d ed. 2011; 2021 Supplements in process). Discovery of Claim Files in third-party bad faith cases is discussed in 1 id., § 8:5. Please read the disclaimer. ©2021 Dennis J. Wall. All rights reserved.
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