One important right policyholders have is to be fully compensated or “made whole” when the insurer improperly denies coverage or payment of benefits. Some insurers argue, incorrectly, that they can avoid making the policyholder whole by paying the disputed policy benefit after the policyholder files a lawsuit. That’s incorrect because by the time the policyholder files suit, they’ve typically lost significantly more than just the disputed policy benefit: they’ve hired lawyers or experts, paid for repairs or other bills out of pocket, or lost business income because they couldn’t afford to effect repairs without insurance coverage.
In its April 23, 2018 decision in Williams v. Foremost Insurance Co., 2:17-CV-1113-RSM, 2018 WL 1907523 (W.D. Wash. Apr. 23, 2018), the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington analyzed and rejected the argument that the insurer can escape a bad faith lawsuit by retroactively paying the benefits it denied in the first instance.
Williams brought a claim for vandalism damage under her insurance policy with Foremost. Foremost denied Williams’ claim for insurance benefits, arguing that the vandalism was caused by people who were Williams’ tenants at the time of the damage. Foremost ignored Williams’ argument the loss was covered because the vandals were former as opposed to current tenants.
Williams brought a lawsuit alleging claims for bad faith and violations of Washington’s Insurance Fair Conduct Act (“IFCA”) and Consumer Protection Act (“CPA”); those claims entitled Williams to damages beyond the amount of the disputed insurance benefit, such as attorney’s fees, court costs and treble damages.
The court promptly ruled that coverage existed and ordered Foremost to pay the disputed benefits. Following that ruling, Foremost paid Williams $187,001.43 in benefits owed.
Foremost then asked the court to dismiss Williams’ claims for bad faith and for CPA and IFCA violations. Foremost claimed that, since it paid the policy benefits Williams claimed, Williams had no right to assert any additional claims. The Court rejected Foremost’s arguments.
First, and most importantly, the court rejected Foremost’s argument that Williams’ remaining claims were barred because Foremost ultimately paid the insurance benefits, and that Williams could not bring further claims without producing “her complete financial records.” The court determined “Foremost’s insurance payment to Ms. Williams is irrelevant to the issue of bad faith” and that “Washington State law does not appear to provide that retroactive payment for an insurance claim extinguishes all the alleged harm to a plaintiff[.]”
Next, the Court rejected Foremost’s argument that its claim denial was reasonable in light of the evidence Foremost had at the time. The Court noted that Foremost’s evidence showed only that the vandalism was caused by former – not current – tenants, and that Foremost had no evidence that the vandals were Williams’ tenants at the time the vandalism occurred. Moreover, Williams explicitly advised Foremost the vandals were not tenants at the time of the damage.
Finally, the Court also emphasized that an insurer’s bad faith denial of coverage injures the insured beyond merely the dollar amount of the policy benefit. In this case, Williams suffered additional damages because Foremost’s wrongful denial delayed her ability to repair the vandalism damage to her building; Williams also had to hire an expert, take construction loans, and perform some repairs herself.
The Williams decision emphasizes insurers cannot escape bad faith lawsuits merely by paying the disputed benefits after the fact.
Seattle Insurance and ERISA Blog 