Bucholtz v. Safeco Insurance Co. of America

KELLY, Chief Judge.

The plaintiff, Judith M. Bucholtz, appeals the summary judgment entered in favor of the defendant, Safeco Insurance Company, dismissing two of her claims for relief, which amount to a single claim in tort for bad faith breach of insurance contract, and a third claim of outrageous conduct. She contends that the trial court erred in holding that Safeco’s reliance on the arbitration clause in the policy could not, as a matter of law, constitute an exercise of bad faith or be a breach of that same contract and that none of Safeco’s actions could be characterized as outrageous…