Light v. Allstate Insurance

(Filed July 27, 1998)

This Court has clearly and unambiguously ruled that it is mandatory for the trial court to bifurcate and stay third-party statutory bad faith insurance claims until the resolution of the underlying personal injury claim. State ex rel. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Madden, 192 W.Va. 155, 451 S.E.2d 721 (1994). The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Maher v. Continental Cas. Co., 76 F.3d 535 (4th Cir.1996), based on the logic of the Madden decision, extended the same principle to first-party statutory bad faith claims. Subsequently, the United States District Court for the…