Tag: Work Product Privilege

Hawaii: Defending Insured In Underlying Claim Not Necessarily Bad Faith Safe Harbor

HAWAII, Feb. 4 – The Supreme Court of Hawaii has ruled that a title insurer’s defense of its insured in underlying action to quiet title does not shield that insurer from bad faith exposure, and that questions of fact regarding the reasonableness of such action, as opposed to settling the underlying claim which appeared to be meritorious,  precluded summary judgment in favor of the title insurer.

In Anastasi v. Fidelity National Title Ins. Co., the Court affirmed an intermediate appeals court ruling that a summary judgment in favor of Fidelity National should be reversed, and the case remanded to trial for exploration of whether the title insurer should have paid to settle the underlying action to quiet title against its insured, Anastasi,  earlier, as opposed to continuing to litigate.  There was evidence that a warranty deed upon which Anastasi issued a mortgage to the borrower  was falsified, and the true owners of the property would prevail in the underlying suit against Anastasi and the mortgagee.

The Court found there were questions of fact regarding the reasonableness of Fidelity National’s continuing the defense of its insured in the underlying case after learning the deed upon which Anastatia issued the mortgage was forged.  Justice Paula Nakayama wrote for the court:

“If insurance companies were held to be acting reasonably as a matter of law any time they filed or defended lawsuits under a contractual right to pursue litigation, frivolous lawsuits could be used to unfairly delay payments to insureds for years…

The opinion also contains an excellent discussion of an ongoing discovery dispute regarding whether documents prepared by Fidelity’s in house legal department during the claims investigation were protected by attorney client privilege or the attorney work product doctrine.  The Court remanded that issue to the trial court as well, directing it to make a determination whether the documents in question were prepared “because of” litigation or the threat of litigation, or whether they would have been prepared regardless.

Anastasi v. Fidelity National Title Ins. Co. (HI 2016)(Nakayama, J.)

Federal Judge Denies Stay, Upholds Insurer’s Work Product Privilege In Bad Faith Case

Reading, Pa., Jan. 19.  U.S. District Judge  Joseph Leeson  has denied a motion filed by Allstate Insurance Company to sever and  stay a  bad faith claim, including  discovery,  in a combined breach of contract and bad faith case, but has ordered that Allstate may properly assert work product privilege protection as to matters genuinely prepared in anticipation of litigation.

In Wagner v. Allstate, Judge Leeson conceded that while there may be a basis for separate trial of the breach of contract and bad faith claims under F.R.C.P. 42 , there was no need to prevent simultaneous discovery in both the breach of contract and bad faith claims.

Judge Leeson also granted in part and denied in part Plaintiff’s motion to compel discovery of Allstate’s claims file, ruling that the Court needed more information to make a complete ruling on the motion.  The Court ruled that Allstate did have the right to assert privilege over materials in its claims files which were prepared in anticipation of litigation, while observing the parties disputed the date at which time Allstate’s anticipation of litigation over the underlying UIM claim was bona fide.

Wagner v. Allstate Ins. Co., E.D. Pa. 2016 (Leeson, J.)