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Statute of Limitations Bars Bad Faith Claim\\n\\nLoann T. Phan-Kramer and Jonerik Kramer sued American States Insurance \\nCompany for underinsured motorist coverage, won, and collected. Now, \\nthey have sued American States again asserting statutory bad faith, \\nbreach of contract/good faith and fair dealing, and loss of consortium.\\n\\nIn Loann T. Phan-Kramer and Jonerik Kramer v. American States Insurance \\nCompany, No. 2:23-cv-01867-JDW, United States District Court, E.D. \\nPennsylvania (September 14, 2023) the USDC took away part of plaintiffs \\nclaim and allowed the rest to proceed in a Solomon like decision.\\n\\nBACKGROUND FACTS\\n\\nOn April 15, 2016, an underinsured motorist rear-ended Loann T. \\nPhan-Kramer. She suffered a full thickness tear of her rotator cuff, as \\nwell as other neck and back injuries. At the time of the accident, \\nAmerican States Insurance Company insured Ms. Phan-Kramer, including \\nunderinsured motorist (\\u201cUIM\\u201d) benefits. After suing then settling with \\nthe other driver, Plaintiffs filed their UIM insurance claim with \\nAmerican States. American States denied that claim and Plaintiffs sued. \\nAt trial, the jury returned a verdict in Plaintiffs\' favor and the \\ninsurer satisfied the verdict.\\n\\nDISCUSSION

\\nThe Tort of Bad Faith\\n\\nThe statute of limitations bars Plaintiffs\' claim. The statute of \\nlimitations on a bad faith claim is two years in Pennsylvania. The \\nstatute begins to run when the insurer first refuses to pay the claim. \\n\\nBreach of Contract/Loss of Consortium\\n\\nThe Third Circuit has adopted a bright-line rule that res judicata \\ncannot bar claims that are predicated on events that postdate the filing of the initial complaint. Because Plaintiffs\' breach of contract and loss consortium claims both rely (at least in part) on American States\'s conduct following the filing of the initial lawsuit, res judicata cannot preclude these claims.\\n\\nAmerican States acknowledged that the Amended Complaint \\u201cfocus[es] . . . on the ways that American States supposedly acted in bad faith during the litigation and trial of the underlying UIM/consortium case.\\u201d\\n\\nBecause the bright-line rule bars the application of res judicata, \\nAmerican States\'s Motion on the breach of contract and loss of \\nconsortium claims was denied.\\n\\nZALMA OPINION\\xa0\\n\\nInsurance companies, like every person and corporation, are imperfect.

\\nAmerican States decided it did not owe UIM benefits to its insured, took the issue to trial and lost. It paid the judgment only to be sued for defending the original suit. The court found that the insured/plaintiffs filed their bad faith claim too late and dismissed that action only to allow the breach of contract and loss of consortium claims to proceed.

\\nThe decision is a Pyrrhic victory for the plaintiffs since they already \\nrecovered in the initial suit the contract damages.\\n\\n(c) 2023 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.\\n\\nPlease tell your friends and colleagues about this blog and the videos and let them subscribe to the blog and the videos.\\n\\nSubscribe to Excellence in Claims Handling at locals.com at \\nhttps://zalmaoninsurance.locals.com/subscribe or at substack at \\nhttps://barryzalma.substack.com/publish/post/107007808\\n\\nGo to Newsbreak.com\\xa0 https://www.newsbreak.com/@c/1653419?s=01\\n\\nFollow me on LinkedIn: \\nwww.linkedin.com/comm/mynetwork/discovery-see-all?usecase=PEOPLE_FOLLOWS&followMember=barry-zalma-esq-cfe-a6b5257\\n\\n\\nDaily articles are published at https://zalma.substack.com. Go to the \\npodcast Zalma On Insurance at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/barry-zalma/support; Go to Barry Zalma videos at Rumble.com at https://rumble.com/c/c-262921; Go to Barry Zalma on YouTube-https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCysiZklEtxZsSF9DfC0Expg;\\xa0 Go to the Insurance Claims Library \\u2013 http://zalma.com/blog/insurance-claims-library/