- Please produce documents, reports, memos, or other records of any reserve or reserves set up related to Claim Nos. [of certain claims identified by their claim numbers].
- Please produce documents and written communication, including all letters, emails, correspondence, fax, or electronic transmission, related to any changes in reserve levels pertaining to Claims Nos. [of certain claims identified by their claim numbers].
- Please produce actuarial calculations, and/or evaluations used in setting or changing reserve levels related to Claims Nos. [of certain claims identified by their claim numbers].
Similar requests were approved in the bad faith case of Sandpiper Isle Condominium Association v. Empire Indemnity Insurance Co., No.: 2:21-cv-105-KCD, 2023 WL 5720744, at *2 (M.D. Fla. Sept. 5, 2023), in which a policyholder brought a bad-faith action after its carrier refused to pay the Condominium Association's claim for hurricane damage.
The Court held that reserve information was discoverable in this bad-faith action. Moreover, the carrier objected that discovery "should be limited to Sandpiper's claim only[.]" Sandpiper Isle Condominium Association, 2023 WL 5720744, at *3. (Presumably, the carrier was concerned that one or more of the requested claim numbers would implicate other policyholders' claims.) The Court overruled the carrier's objection in that regard "because in a bad-faith case, [the carrier's] general business practices are at issue." Sandpiper Isle Condominium Association, 2023 WL 5720744, at *3. As to pleading and proof of General Business Practices requirements in third-party bad faith cases, see § 3:28, in 1 DENNIS J. WALL, LITIGATION AND PREVENTION OF INSURER BAD FAITH (West Publishing Co. 3d Edition, 2024 Supplements in process), and regarding pleading and proof of GBP requirements in first-party bad faith cases, see §§ 9:14 and 9:14.75, Volume 2, id.
Sample requests for production, interrogatories, jury instructions and other materials helpful to trial lawyers are contained in Volume 2 of DENNIS J. WALL, LITIGATION AND PREVENTION OF INSURER BAD FAITH. The requests in this article will appear, with others, in the forthcoming 2024 Supplements.