Motion to Sever and Stay Bad Faith Claim Denied in Blair County Case

In the case of Blair County case of Fisher v. Erie Insurance Exchange, No. 2016-GN-298 (C.P. Blair Co. May 9, 2018 Bernard, J.), the trial court denied the insurance company’s Motion to Sever the UIM and bad faith claims and further denied the carrier’s Motion to Stay the bad faith case.

This matter arose out of a motor vehicle accident and a UIM claim pursued by the injured party Plaintiff.  

In its decision, the court reviewed the split of authority and case law in the various state and federal courts on the issues of severance and stay of bad faith claims in post-Koken matters. The courts noted that the federal courts in Pennsylvania tend to deny such motions and that the state trial courts have varying results, including conflicts within some same counties.  

In Blair County, where this case is pending, there were previous decisions in which such motions to sever were denied and bad faith discovery was allowed to proceed.   In this regard, the court cited the case of Swan v. Moorefield, No. 2014-GN-2606 (C.P. Blair Co. Nov. 9, 2017).  

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.

I send thanks to Attorney Scott Cooper of the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania law firm of Schmidt Kramer for sending this case to my attention.