Last Friday, a jury sitting in the Western District of Washington in Cox v. Continental Cas. Co., No. C13-2288 MJP (W.D. Wash. Jan. 23, 2015), found an insurer acted negligently and violated the Washington Consumer Protection Act, awarding $16.5 million in damages.  We previously wrote about the Cox case last June (Washington Court Addresses “First Party” Insured Requirement in IFCA).

The case concerned a class of individuals that made malpractice claims against a dentist that had a policy with the insurance company.  The class brought suit directly against the insurance company based upon a settlement and assignment they reached with the dentist.  As noted in our prior entry on the case, the court dismissed the claim brought under the Washington Insurance Fair Conduct Act (IFCA), but allowed the claims for bad faith, violation of the Consumer Protection Act, and negligence to proceed.  All three claims proceeded to trial where the jury found in favor of the insurance company on the bad faith claim, but ruled in favor of the class on the negligence claim (awarding $10,196,775) and the Consumer Protection Act claim (awarding $6,277,652.08).

Maloney Lauersdorf Reiner regularly represents clients in insurance disputes involving allegations of insurance bad faith and violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act.  Please contact us with any questions about this case or any other matter you see addressed in the Insurance Coverage Blog.