When evaluating the various bad faith allegations that can be asserted against a carrier, a number of things come to mind. Some of my prior posts addressed programs that are implemented to reward insurance company adjusters for paying less on claims. Some of my posts addressed how policyholders are subtly, if not overtly, discouraged from retaining a public adjuster or an attorney despite their right to do so. Other posts talked about legally strategic maneuvers taken by insurance companies, possibly Safeco, to play hard ball or not to play fair at all when it comes to litigating a bad faith case.
In one particular case, Safeco was ordered to produce hundreds of thousands of pages specifically regarding its claims handling practices. In that case, documents were produced without a protective order and they were not subject to a confidentiality agreement. Despite this, Safeco fights tooth and nail in other lawsuits to prevent the production of the same documents. Safeco seemingly employs other tactics when it comes to producing discoverable information or documents and it might be happening in a case out in California
In California, a complaint was filed with the Department of Insurance against Safeco. Despite the fact that the Department of Insurance wrote to Safeco regarding the complaint, Safeco failed to timely produce a copy of that correspondence in a pending lawsuit. Why not produce the letter in a timely fashion? Why delay even more when the material has already been made public?
No one call tell the story better than the attorney representing the policyholder in that California case. He has posted quite a bit about it on his website: Safeco Litigation .com I recommend that those who are interested peruse the site and decide whether Safeco appears to be “hiding the ball.”
