Barefield v. DPIC Companies, Inc.

In this certified question proceeding the majority opinion has made two holdings. First, the majority opinion has concluded that a bad faith action under the unfair trade practices statute may be instituted against an insurer for misconduct occurring after litigation began in the underlying action. Second, consistent with the decision in Rose v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Co., 215 W. Va. 250, 599 S.E.2d 673 (2004), the majority opinion has concluded that an insurer may be held liable for litigation misconduct of defense counsel when the insurer knowingly encourages, directs,…