If No Coverage Under Policy, Then No Bad Faith

In the case of Walker v. Foremost Ins. Co., No. CV-20-4966 (E.D. Pa. March 2, 2022 McHugh, J.), the court followed prior precedent in granting summary judgment on a bad faith claim after finding that there was no coverage due on the policy in question.

According to the Opinion, this case arose out of an incident during which a homeowner’s fallen tree damaged her neighbor’s property.

The neighbor and the neighbor’s carrier sued for damages.

The homeowner’s carrier asserted that its policy did not provide liability coverage for the claim at issue.

The neighbor filed for breach of contract and bad faith.

After finding that no coverage was due under the policy and granting the homeowner’s carrier’s Motion for Summary Judgment on the breach of contract claim, the court likewise granted the summary judgment on the bad faith claim indicating that, since there was no coverage due under the policy, “by definition, the insurer had a reasonable basis to deny the benefits.”

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.  The Court's Order can be viewed HERE.


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

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