Posted on Dec 17, 2014
On December 15, 2014, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in Allstate Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co. v. Wolfe that the Pennsylvania state law on statutory bad faith (Section 8371) allowed a defendant slapped with punitive damages stemming from a drunken driving accident to assign bad faith claims against his insurer to the victim, finding that the statute doesn’t bar such assignments. Addressing a matter of first impression under Pennsylvania law, the high court ruled 5-1 that an insured can assign the right to assert damages under Section 8371 of the state’s Judicial Code to an injured plaintiff and judgment creditor.
Schmidt Kramer Partner Scott Cooper co-authored the Pennsylvania Association for Justice’s Amicus Brief in support of the insured Wolfe’s right to assign the bad faith claim.
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