Federal Court Reaffirms That Plaintiffs Have No Standing to Assert Direct Bad Faith Claim Against Tortfeasor's Carrier

In the case of Starrett v. Coe, No. 3:16-cv-02272 (M.D. Pa. June 20, 2017 Saporito, M.J.) (Report and Recommendation, affirmed by Judge A. Richard Caputo under an Opinion dated August 9, 2017), it was held that third party Plaintiffs do not have a contractual relationship with tortfeasor’s liability carriers and, therefore, such Plaintiffs have no standing to assert a bad faith claim against a tortfeasor’s insurer and/or its adjuster.

The district court judge agreed with Federal Magistrate Joseph Saporito's Opinion in this regard and, thereby, dismissed the bad faith failure to negotiate claim lawsuit filed by the Plaintiff.

Anyone wishing to review Federal District Magistrate Judge Saporito's Report and Recommendations may click this LINK.

To review Judge Caputo's Opinion adopting Judge Saporito's decision, please click HERE.

I send thanks to Attorney Lee Applebaum of the Philadelphia law firm of Fineman, Krekstein & Harris.  Attorney Applebaum is the creator and writer of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Insurance Bad Faith Case Law Blog.