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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    Insurance

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Tuesday, May 30, 2023

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$297.00
CLE
ALL

This CLE webinar will examine how counsel for insurers can recognize when a third-party plaintiff attempts to "setup" the insurer for a bad faith claim. The panel will address what insurers can do to avoid this trap, counterclaims, and relevant affirmative defenses based on the plaintiff's fraudulent conduct or misrepresentations.

Faculty

Rachel E. Hudgins
Counsel
Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP

Regarded by clients as their “chief contact for high-exposure work,” Ms. Hudgins helps policyholders maximize their available insurance recoveries. She has litigated hundreds of insurance coverage and bad faith disputes in state and federal courts across the country and U.S. territories. Yet, as a seasoned litigator, she also recognizes the strategic and financial value of pre-suit resolutions, helping clients navigate risk to maximize their recoveries. Ms. Hudgins has been involved in a wide variety of unique cases, like parasailing-related injuries, fraternity party injuries, blockades at the Indian-Nepali border, mass livestock deaths, exploding e-cigarettes, art provenance investigations, and free-fall drops at county fairs. Her practice spans catastrophic injury claims (premises, workplace, auto, trucking, aviation, environmental, firearm, opioid, extreme sports, and entertainment), property damage disputes (natural disasters and builder’s risk), C-suite subpoenas and investigations, art provenance issues, and trade credit claims. 

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Mark Garbowski
Shareholder
Anderson Kill

Mr. Garbowski is an attorney in the Insurance Recovery group in Anderson Kill's New York office. His practice concentrates on insurance recovery, exclusively on behalf of policyholders, with particular emphasis on professional liability insurance, directors and officers insurance, fidelity and crime-loss policies, internet and high-tech liability insurance issues.

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Charles Rybny
Chair Insurance Coverage & Extra-Contractual Litigation Group
Morgan & Akins, PLLC

Mr. Rybny represents insurers in all phases of first and third party insurance disputes, including pre-litigation activities, special investigations, declaratory relief actions, and lawsuits alleging bad faith. His experience encompasses CGL, farm, condominium, fiduciary liability, property, business interruption, commercial crimes and credit risk insurance. Over the years, Mr. Rybny has been asked to speak on a variety of emerging insurance issues. Scott has presented at PAMIC, IASIU, PACIA, NBI, PDI and PLRB.

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Description

An insurer that has acted in bad faith may be liable for significant extra-contractual and punitive damages. Thus, unscrupulous plaintiffs have manufactured, manipulated, and proffered settlements under conditions which the insurer must, for legitimate reasons, refuse and thereby make itself vulnerable to damages for "bad faith."

When defending bad faith claims, insurers are increasingly deploying strategies, counterclaims, and affirmative defenses to expose the plaintiff's wrongful conduct related to the claim, such as the plaintiff's failure to cooperate and give proper notice of a claim or fraud and misrepresentation.

Some courts permit insurers to assert a "bad faith setup" defense, whereby they are allowed to demonstrate that claimants employed their own bad faith setup tactics solely to obtain punitive damages. There is also a question as to whether an insurer can assert a counterclaim for "reverse bad faith," whereby an insurer can recover for a plaintiff's breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, although this approach has had limited success. Only one state expressly authorizes this defense by statute. Nonetheless, several reported cases recognize the claim, at least in dicta, and insurers continue to deploy it.

Listen as our authoritative panel of policyholder and insurer counsel discusses the latest litigation trends in defenses raised by insurers in bad faith litigation that focus on the alleged wrongful conduct of the claimant. The panel will cover the claimant's bad faith setup, fraud or misrepresentation, and the affirmative defense of reverse bad faith.

Outline

  1. Trends in defenses to bad faith claims focusing on claimant's conduct
    1. Bad faith setup
    2. Fraud or misrepresentation
    3. Other defenses or strategies
  2. Trends in "reverse bad faith" as an affirmative defense
  3. Best practices for policyholders and claimants to counter these defenses
  4. Best practices for insurers in raising and proving these defenses

Benefits

The panel will review these and other relevant issues:

  • What conduct by claimants generally gives rise to a bad faith setup defense, and how have courts treated this defense?
  • What types of conduct by the policyholder or claimant are typically considered bad faith conduct?
  • In what circumstances have insurers pursued the doctrine of reverse bad faith, and how have the courts treated these arguments?