Favorable Supreme Court Decision

Posted By Haggerty, Goldberg, Schleifer & Kupersmith, P.C.

James C. Haggerty, Esquire of HGSK filed an Amicus (Friend of the Court) Brief on behalf of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice (“PAJ”) with the Supreme Court in Allstate Insurance Company v. Wolfe. In that case, an important legal question of first impression was presented to the Court. The Supreme Court was asked to determine whether a bad faith claim under 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 8371 could, in fact, be assigned so that the insurance company could be pursued for its bad faith actions. The Superior Court adopted many of the arguments set forth by Jim Haggerty on behalf of PAJ and agreed that a statutory bad faith claim under 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 8371 is, in fact, assignable. This is a major victory for persons making claims against insurance companies in Pennsylvania. With this decision, insurance companies will not be able to hide behind the claim of “non-assignability” in order to avoid claims for their bad faith actions. The actions of PAJ were instrumental in obtaining this favorable result.