Bad Faith Claims

Lugenbuhl counsels our insurance company clients before litigation ever ensues. In particular, Lugenbuhl assists its clients in making decisions about:

• Investigation, evaluation, and timely payment of property claims where appropriate
• Whether to defend under reservation of rights
• Whether to decline coverage
• Whether to rescind policies
• In addition, Lugenbuhl assists our clients in deciding whether to seek declaratory-judgment actions in order to obtain early and efficient coverage determinations in favorable jurisdictions.

If retained after litigation has already ensued, Lugenbuhl defends bad faith suits initiated not only by first-party claimants under homeowner’s policies, commercial business property policies, control-of-well policies, and operator’s-extra-expense policies, but also by third-party claimants under commercial general liability policies, professional liability policies and employer’s liability/workmen’s compensation policies.

Defending Against First-Party Claimants

With respect to first-party bad faith claims, Lugenbuhl’s bad faith-coverage team has extensive litigation experience concerning:

• Whether there has been a satisfactory proof of loss that has triggered payment of undisputed amounts under the policy
• Assignment of bad faith claims to third persons
• Whether statutory requirements have been satisfied

Defending Against Third-Party Claimants

Because Louisiana permits third-party claims to be asserted directly against insurers under the Direct-Action Statute, La. R.S. 22:1269, liability insurers often find themselves involved in bad faith litigation with third-party claimants. Lugenbuhl’s in-depth knowledge of Louisiana law interpreting statutory penalty provisions enables us to develop early exit strategies. Typical third-party bad faith claims include:

• Whether a third-party claimant can legally assert particular types of bad faith claims
• Whether certain payments, including settlements, were timely
• Whether a third-party claimant has been properly assigned to an insured’s bad faith claim
• Whether policy terms were misrepresented