Recently, the Middle District of Florida granted Allstate’s motion for summary judgment on the plaintiff’s bad faith claim in Wojciechowski v. Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance, 8:14-cv-03176-MSS-TBM (M.D. Fla. 2016). The court determined that Allstate did not act in bad faith during the Civil Remedy Notice cure period because Allstate reviewed the demand package and medical records submitted by the plaintiff. The review of the records at the time showed that the plaintiff only faced the possibility of surgery in the future. Allstate followed up with the plaintiff prior to the expiration of the cure period for any significant changes.

In evaluating whether Allstate acted in good faith, the court reviewed the material available to Allstate during the cure period. The court determined that the possibility of surgery is not sufficient proof of permanency. Moreover, the court found that plaintiff’s subjective complaints of pain were insufficient to prove a permanent injury.

With regard to the challenge to Allstate’s claim handling, the court found that Allstate did not act in bad faith because it did not rely solely on Colossus in evaluating the plaintiff’s claim. The court noted that Allstate used the knowledge of the claim representatives and evaluation consultants to formulate values of the claim and re-evaluated when necessary.