In Wallace v. GEICO General Insurance Co., 2014 WL 4540328 (M.D. Fla. September 11, 2014), an Uninsured Motorist carrier removed its policyholder's bad faith lawsuit from State Court to Federal Court. Then the policyholder filed a motion to remand and the insurance carrier filed a motion to dismiss.
The basis was the same for both motions: Prematurity.
The Federal Court had no problem whatsoever finding that the instant case involved prematurity: "A bad faith claim does not accrue until the conclusion of the underlying uninsured motorist case. [Citations omitted.] It is undisputed that the state court has not entered a final judgment in the underlying uninsured motorist case." Wallace v. GEICO General Insurance Co., 2014 WL 4540328 *2 (M.D. Fla. September 11, 2014).
This helped only the policyholder on his motion to remand, however. It was fatal to the UM carrier's motion to dismiss. The insurance company defendant failed to provide the Federal Court with a basis in the record to determine "that the value of the bad faith claim meets the jurisdictional threshold of $75,000." Wallace v. GEICO General Insurance Co., 2014 WL 4540328 *1 (M.D. Fla. September 11, 2014). Accordingly, said the Federal Court, "the Defendant has not met its burden to demonstrate that the Court has subject matter jurisdiction."
The moral of this story (well, one of the morals, anyway): Be careful what you wish for. You might get it. In this case, the defendant wished that the Judge would find that the bad faith claim against it was premature. The Judge gave the defendant what it wanted, in that sense: The Judge found that the bad faith claim was premature.
Then the Judge granted the plaintiff's motion to remand the case back to State Court.
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