Sunday, February 26, 2012

Beaver County Court of Common Pleas Allows Amendment of Post-Koken Complaint

Tort Talkers may recall an early post-Koken case out of Beaver County by the name of Bradish-Klein v. Kennedy, No. 11548 - 2009 (C.P. Beaver Co. 2012). This post provides an update in that matter.

In this post-Koken case it appears that the claim against the third party tortfeasor has since been settled and the Plaintiff has continued on with the UIM claim against State Farm. The case has proceeded through the discovery efforts, including State Farm’s request for the insured to undergo an IME even though the insured had previously undergone an IME at the request of the third party tortfeasor.

The Bradish-Klein case recently came back before the Court again on the Plaintiff’s Motion to Amend its Complaint to include a bad faith count against State Farm, alleging a period of delay in the payment of the UIM benefits and with regards to State Farm’s alleged “forcing” the insured to undergo an additional independent medical examination.

After argument and briefs submitted on the Plaintiff’s Motion to Amend to add a bad faith count, Judge Anthony Kwidis granted the Plaintiff’s Motion to Leave of Court to file the Amended Complaint. In his two lined Order, the Court indicated that any claims of lack of specificity of the claims presented would be addressed after the Amended Complaint was filed.

It has also been reported that the judge would additionally entertain a Motion to Stay the bad faith count pending the resolution of the UIM count. That remains to be seen.

Anyone desiring a copy of Judge Kwidis’ Order granting the Motion to File an Amended Complaint may click on this link.

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