March 2014 Bad Faith Cases: Statutory Bad Faith Claims Can Only Be Brought Against Insurers With Whom Plaintiff Had An Insurance Contract (Philadelphia Federal)

In Wallace v. State Farm, the court dismissed most of the bad faith claims on res judicata grounds, wherein the earlier suit was ended by a praecipe to settle, discontinue, and end, which the court found to be the equivalent of a final judgment for res judicata purposes.  A final bad faith count was dismissed:  “Since none of the other defendants insured plaintiff, he cannot bring a statutory bad faith claim against them. Similarly, any claim for breach of contract against the remaining defendants fail, because plaintiff does not allege that he had a contract with the other defendants.”

Date of Decision:  December 19, 2013

Wallace v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., Civil Action No. 13-cv-3867, , 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 179191 (E.D.Pa.  Dec. 19, 2013) (Stengel, J.)