UIM Bad Faith Complaint Dismissed For Conclusory Allegations

In the case of O’Brien v. Liberty Mutual Ins., No. 21-CV-01234, 2021 WL3203405 (E.D.Pa. July 28,2021 Baylson, J.), the court granted a carrier’s Motion to Dismiss a Plaintiff UIM bad faith claim for failure to plead beyond conclusory allegations.

The court noted that the Plaintiff did not provide sufficient factual allegations under which the court could reasonably infer the Defendant’s ill-will. The court found that the claims of bad faith described in the complaint were overly vague and did not contain any specific factual allegations that suggested bad faith.

For example, the Plaintiff did not plead specific facts to suggest how the Defendant forced the Plaintiffs to file the lawsuit. Nor did the complaint give facts in support of claims of false pretexts and invasive tactics utilized by the insurance company.

The court noted that, basically, the sole factual allegation in the Complaint regarding the Defendant’s action was that the Defendant denied the Plaintiff’s claim for UIM benefits.

Although the court granted a Motion to Dismiss, the court also allowed the Plaintiff leave to amend.

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


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

Source of image:  Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.com.