Hoskins v. Aetna Life Insurance

*275I

A

The key issue presented is whether appellees have sufficiently pleaded a cause of action in tort, stemming from the refusal of their insurer to pay their claim, to allow them to proceed on a punitive damages claim against their insurer.

As a threshold consideration to the punitive damages claim, this court must decide whether a cause of action in tort arising out of an insurance contract lies against an insurer for its wrongful failure to pay a claim of its insured. While this court has not previously addressed this issue, it has, on numerous occasions, addressed the issue of whether tort…