Represent Insurance Company in Bad Faith & Breach of Contract After Personal Injury Claim

The firm represented a national insurance company against a personal injury plaintiff who pursued his own third party bad faith claim against the company as well as first party breach of contract and bad faith claims assigned to him by the insured. The case arose from a tragic car accident. A mine employee who left work allegedly fell asleep after working a double shift, crossed the center line and collided with the accident victim. The mine employee died in the accident, and the plaintiff victim suffered other catastrophic injuries allegedly rendering him unable to work again. He filed suit and subsequently added the mine that employed the tortfeasor as a defendant. He claimed his injuries arose from their negligent supervision of the tortfeasor. The insurer for the mine denied the claim and did not provide a defense, relying upon a total auto exclusion in their CGL policy. Ultimately, the insured assigned its rights against the insurer to the plaintiff and filed suit directly against the insurer. The case ended in a voluntary settlement.