Defense attorneys had characterized the case as a prime example of "set-up" cases in which lawyers use time-limited demands to gin up bad faith claims against insurers. But the appeals court rejected that claim and left Nationwide on the hook for a jury award of more than $5.8 million plus interest that — as of last August — totaled more than $2.4 million.
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce last year filed an amicus brief on Nationwide's behalf terming the case an example of a "recent epidemic of bad-faith litigation in Georgia."
|Upheld jury verdict
The case revolves around the use of so-called Holt demands, named for the 1992 Georgia Supreme Court decision in Southern General Ins. Co. v. Holt, 416 S.E. 2d 274. That opinion upheld a jury verdict that an insurer had demonstrated bad faith when it failed to timely respond to a policy limit request on behalf of a woman injured in a car wreck, even though medical records showed her bills far exceeded the policy limits.
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Greg Land
Greg Land covers topics including verdicts and settlements and insurance-related litigation for the Daily Report in Atlanta.
