In Currie v. Auto-Ins. Co., No. 1:20-CV-02160-ELR, 2021 WL 4354188 (N.D. Ga. August 12, 2021), a policyholder sued a homeowner's carrier for statutory bad faith late payment of his claim under Georgia law. His excuse for being late with his notice was that he did not know the defendant was his homeowner's carrier.
The homeowner's carrier defended its conduct against the bad faith claim with this argument: "Defendant asserts that Plaintiff's bad faith claim fails as a matter of law because Defendant had a reasonable, non-frivolous reason for rejecting Plaintiff's Claim." Currie, 2021 WL 4354188, at paragraph immediately following title of Section IV of the Court's Opinion (page numbers not provided as of the time that this article is published).
The federal court agreed and entered summary judgment for the homeowner's carrier in this case. Currie, 2021 WL 4354188, at Section IV.B of the Court's Opinion (page numbers not provided as of the time that this article is published).
The morals of the story here are two: (1) There are apparently better excuses for being late in notifying your homeowner's carrier of your claim, and (2) Your lateness does not impose an obligation on your homeowner's carrier in Georgia, as in most places.
P.S. SUBSEQUENT HISTORY AS OF WED., 09.29.21:
Since this article was posted, Westlaw has provided the following information on the subsequent history of the Currie case: appeal docketed, No. UNAVAILABLE (11th Cir. Sept. 10, 2021).
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