Monday, June 14, 2021

Bad Faith Claim Based Upon Delay in Full Payment Dismissed; Right to File Amended Complaint Allowed



In the case of Elansari v. The First Liberty Ins. Corp., No. 2:20-CV-5901-JDW (E.D. Pa. May 6, 2021 Wolson, J.), the court granted a Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss a Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint for bad faith but allowed the Plaintiff to file yet another Amended Complaint.

According to the Opinion, the Plaintiff alleged a breach of contract where the carrier subsequently paid a disputed amount of total liability and lost income coverage. The Plaintiff complained that the carrier failed to make full payment within a certain timeframe and asserted that he suffered damages due to that delay.

The Opinion indicated that the carrier first issued a check to the Plaintiff for approximately $3,700.00 and advised him that it would not pay additional compensation. However, after the Plaintiff filed suit, the carrier then issued an additional payment for another $1,089.00.

The court granted the carrier’s Motion to Dismiss after finding that the Plaintiff’s claim that the carrier had breached the insurance contract by not paying the additional amount failed because the carrier had since sent the Plaintiff a check for that amount in dispute.

The court also found that the Plaintiff failed to establish that the carrier had any contractual or legal duty to process his claims within a certain timeframe or that the Plaintiff had suffered any compensable damages as a result of any purported delay.

The court additionally noted, in this bad faith case, the Plaintiff's claims that the carrier’s purported delay in processing the additional payment failed in that that alleged delay appeared from the record before the court to be the result of negligence rather than any recklessness or bad faith.

Neverthless, the Plaintiff was still granted the right to file an Amended Complaint.

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


Source: “Digest of Recent Opinions.” Pennsylvania Law Weekly (May 27, 2021).

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