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• Bad Faith

Bad Faith

Thomas W. Ely (Senior Partner/Irvine Office) recently obtained a defense verdict in the Orange County Superior Court in an action filed against an insurance company for breach of contract. In a 10-2 verdict, the jury found that the plaintiff had made material misrepresentations in the application for insurance. The plaintiff had represented that the injured premises had copper wires/circuit breakers when there was aluminum wiring and a fuse box. The plaintiff also misrepresented the date that the structure was built, claiming that it was built several decades after it was actually built and misrepresented the purchase price by several thousand dollars.

Laura J. Barns (Junior Partner/Irvine Office) recently prevailed on a motion for summary adjudication on a claim for "bad faith" filed in the Orange County Superior Court. The plaintiff alleged that the insurance company had breached the covenant of good faith and fair dealing by voiding the policy of insurance based upon intentional misrepresentations on the application. The court granted the motion for summary adjudication in favor of the insurance company based upon the statute of limitations.

Christopher P.Wesierski (Senior Partner/Irvine Office) has been successful in winning numerous demurrers without leave to amend and multiple judgment on the pleadings motions on behalf of adjusters and companies evolving out of the earthquake claims.

As many of the cases had the same plaintiff attorneys - the success rate deterred filings against these same companies after a period of time.

In all of the cases, punitive damages were being claimed as well as a series of violations of good faith and fair dealing and violations of the insurance code.

The devastating January 17, 1994 Northridge Earthquake spawned an enormous quantity of lawsuits against insurance companies and their independent catastrophic adjusters for alleged bad faith handling of insurance claims. Wesierski & Zurek, LLP represented Americas largest catastrophic insurance adjuster corporation and individual adjusters in dozens and dozens of these lawsuits. Christopher Wesierski was successful in winning numerous demurrers as well as motions for judgment on the pleadings, without leave to amend. This resulted in the dismissal of our insurance adjuster clients from dozens of these lawsuits. The successful demurrers and motions for judgments on the pleadings also had the salutary effect of dissuading additional lawsuits against our client, inasmuch as we were litigating against the same law firms time and again. Each Northridge Earthquake lawsuit contained a claim for punitive damages against our insurance adjuster clients, as well as for a series of violations of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, plus alleged violations of the Fair Claims Handling Act, which is an essential part of the Insurance Code.

Thousands of lawsuits against insurance companies over the Northridge earthquake are still ongoing and have been assigned to special complex litigation judges in Los Angeles County's Central Civil West Courthouse. By dint of our earlier successful representation of our insurance adjuster clients, none of our clients are named defendants in any of the remaining lawsuits.

Laura J. Barns (Junior Partner/Irvine Office) recently successfully represented Pacific Specialty Insurance Company in a lawsuit alleging failure to pay "line of sight" damages by prevailing on a motion for summary adjudication of issues. The successful motion had the effect of rendering the plaintiff policyholders' claims moot and also barred by the statute of limitations. The judge commented that the case presented a very challenging statute of limitations issue that Ms. Barns successfully argued should apply to each homeowner's lawsuit. Therefore, the court and the jury never entertained a trial for breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing or insurance bad faith.