Another UIM Bad Faith Claim Dismissed for Insufficient Facts

The trend of the federal courts continuing to require plaintiffs to alleged sufficient facts in support of bad faith claims continues.

In the case of Velazquez v. Progressive American Ins. Co., No. 19-3665 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 21, 2020 Joyner, J.), the Eastern District Federal Court of Pennsylvania dismissed a UIM bad faith claim due to the Plaintiff’s failure to plead sufficient facts in support of the claims presented.

The court found that the Plaintiff did not provide facts to sufficiently plead bad faith allegations regarding the carrier’s alleged failure to negotiate the Plaintiff’s UIM claim, the carrier’s alleged failure to properly investigate and evaluate the claim, and the carrier’s alleged bad faith claim failure to request a defense medical examination of the Plaintiff.

The court found that the allegations amounted to only legal conclusions bereft of factual support. The court also rejected the Plaintiff’s attempt to allege the bad faith claim based upon “acts to be shown through discovery.”

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

I send thanks to Attorney Lee Applebaum of the Pennsylvania New Jersey Insurance Bad Faith Case Law blog and the Philadelphia law firm of Fineman, Krekstein & Harris for bringing this case to my attention.