{"id":887641,"date":"2016-03-15T16:44:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T22:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=887641"},"modified":"2016-03-15T16:44:00","modified_gmt":"2016-03-15T22:44:00","slug":"is-california-law-bad-faith-law-changing-due-to-jury-instructions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-california-law-bad-faith-law-changing-due-to-jury-instructions\/","title":{"rendered":"Is California Law Bad Faith Law Changing Due to Jury Instructions?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Denise Sze | Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog | March 10, 2016<\/p>\n

In California, when it comes to insurance bad faith litigation we usually think of first party bad faith where an insurer owes a duty to its own insured. In fact, third party bad faith<\/a> is barely recognized except where the third party insurer refuses to accept reasonable settlements within liability policy limits. What this means is where a demand was made of a third party insurer (in instances like car collisions or falling trees from a neighbor’s yard) the insurer does not have the same duty to the person issuing the demand as it would to its own insured. In rare instances if a reasonable demand for policy limits is made to a third party<\/a> insurer, the insurer may open up liability to its own insured above and beyond policy limits if it does not accept a policy limits demand within a reasonable time period if it knows the damage for the third party is above policy limits.<\/p>\n

Although what I’ve just written is quite a mouthful, the point of it is that third party bad faith<\/a> may become an even more difficult hurdle for those who seek a proper settlement from an insurance company. If your own insurance company refuses to answer a proper demand and it opens you up to potential liability, then you may not have much recourse against your own insurance company with the newly proposed changes to the California Jury Instructions. The California Civil Instructions Committee oversees jury instructions within California and have voted to adopt changes that are unfriendly to the public and favors insurance companies. California Civil Instructions (CACI) 2334 as it currently stands reads as follows:<\/p>\n

2334. Bad Faith (Third Party)\u2014Refusal to Accept Reasonable Settlement Within Liability Policy Limits\u2014Essential Factual Elements<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Name of plaintiff] claims that [he\/she\/it] was harmed by [name of defendant]\u2019s breach of the obligation of good faith and fair dealing because [name of defendant] failed to accept a reasonable settlement demand in a lawsuit against [name of plaintiff]. To establish this claim, [name of plaintiff] must prove all of the following:
\n1. That [name of plaintiff in underlying case] brought a lawsuit against [name of plaintiff] for a claim that [[he\/she\/it] alleged] was covered by [name of defendant]\u2019s insurance policy;
\n2. That [name of defendant] failed to accept a reasonable settlement demand for an amount within policy limits; and
\n3. That a monetary judgment was entered against [name of plaintiff] for a sum greater than the policy limits.
\n\u201cPolicy limits\u201d means the highest amount available under the policy for the claim against [name of plaintiff].
\nA settlement demand is reasonable if [name of defendant] knew or should have known at the time the settlement demand was rejected that the potential judgment was likely to exceed the amount of the settlement demand based on [name of plaintiff in underlying case]\u2019s injuries or loss and [name of plaintiff]\u2019s probable liability.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The above jury instruction would be filled in and handed to a jury to use during the deliberation process. However, the Committee proposes to do two things…<\/p>\n

To finish reading this article<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Denise Sze | Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog | March 10, 2016 In California, when it comes to insurance bad faith litigation we usually think of first party bad faith where an insurer owes a duty to its own insured. In fact, third party bad faith is barely recognized except where the third party insurer… Continue reading Is California Law Bad Faith Law Changing Due to Jury Instructions?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[140,3],"tags":[140,88,3],"class_list":["post-887641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bad-faith","category-insurance-claims","tag-bad-faith","tag-california","tag-insurance-claims","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs California Law Bad Faith Law Changing Due to Jury Instructions? 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