Liberty Avoids Bad Faith Claim Over Wrongful Death Settlement

Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Co.‘s investigation of a policyholder’s car crash wasn’t unreasonably delayed, and the insurer can sidestep a lawsuit from the mother of a three-month-old killed in the accident, the Eleventh Circuit found.

The mother, Nya Yanitza Montanez, accused Liberty of failing to immediately offer the $250,000 bodily injury policy limit of its insured, the driver who caused the three-car accident in 2010.

“Even if the coverage investigation could have been completed sooner, we see no delay that a jury could reasonably conclude as rising to the level of bad faith,” a three-judge panel of the U.S. ...