In a case against an insurance company for bad faith denial of a claim, a Federal Court in Philadelphia faced a claim alleged against an insurance company under Pennsylvania's Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, the Pennsylvania UTPCPL. The Federal Court effectively extended the intentional conduct requirements of insurance bad faith causes of action under Pennsylvania law to commercial bad faith causes of action.
The Court in that case held that a claim under the UTPCPL for 'commercial' bad faith does not reach denial of an insurance claim under an insurance contract, unless the denial is accompanied by more than simply a breach of the contract. In line with established Pennsylvania law, a simple breach of contract may be actionable at Pennsylvania common law, see Post v. Liberty Mutual Group, Inc., 2014 WL 2777396 (E.D. Pa., June 17, 2014), but it is not actionable under the Pennsylvania UTPCPL any more than an outright claim for insurance bad faith is actionable under 42 Pa. C.S.L. § 8371, Pennsylvania's 'Insurance Bad Faith Statute,' which it is not.
© 2014 by Dennis J. Wall. All rights reserved. No claim to original U.S. Government works.
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