Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Law
The Sounds Of Silence: Waiting For Courts To Acknowledge That Public Policy Justifies Awarding Damages To Third Party Claimants When Liability Insurers Deal With Them In Bad Faith, Francis J. Mootz Iii
The Sounds Of Silence: Waiting For Courts To Acknowledge That Public Policy Justifies Awarding Damages To Third Party Claimants When Liability Insurers Deal With Them In Bad Faith, Francis J. Mootz Iii
Scholarly Works
A long-standing and virtually unchallenged doctrinal rule provides that a liability insurance carrier owes no duties in tort or contract to a third-party claimant who has been injured by its insured. As a matter of doctinal consistency and logic, the traditional rule makes some sense. The liability insurer has no contractual relationship with the claimant, and third-party beneficiary doctrine is not easily used to impose duties. Moreover, by stepping into the shoes of the insured tortfeasor to whom it owes a heightened duty of good faith, the insurer is in an adversarial relationship with the claimant that makes it difficult …