Pavia v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance

OPINION OF THE COURT

Titone, J.

In this action premised on the defendant insurer’s alleged bad-faith failure to accept a settlement offer made by plaintiff’s counsel in a personal injury action, the principal issue is whether the evidence adduced at trial was sufficient to establish "bad faith.” We conclude that the insurer’s failure to respond to plaintiff’s time-restricted demand for settlement within the full policy limits, at a time when the insured’s liability remained under investigation, was insufficient to establish a prima facie case of insurance bad faith. Moreover, there was nothing…