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Georgia Supreme Court Grants Certiorari In Failure to Settle Case

6/25/18

By: Bill Buechner
The Georgia Supreme Court recently granted an insurer’s petition for certiorari in a bad faith failure to settle case to consider what constitutes an offer to settle a claim within policy limits and whether an insurer’s duty to settle arises only when the claimant presents a valid offer to settle within policy limits.  First Acceptance Ins. Co. of Georgia, Inc. v. Hughes, 2018 Ga. LEXIS 407 (June 4, 2018).
In Hughes, the insured caused an automobile accident that resulted in his death and injured others, including the claimants (a mother and her minor child, who sustained a traumatic brain injury).   The limits on the policy were $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident.   After the insurer sent a letter to the claimants’ counsel (and other injured parties) requesting a settlement conference, the claimants’ counsel sent a response letter to the insurer on June 2, 2009 stating that they were “interested in having their claims resolved within your insured’s policy limits and in attending a settlement conference[.]”  The 6/2/09 letter from the claimants’ counsel also explained that the claimants had uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage in the amounts of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident.  The 6/2/09 letter continued:

Of course, the exact amount of UM benefits available to my clients depends upon the amount paid to them from the available liability coverage.  Once that is determined, a release of your insured from all personal liability except to the extent other insurance coverage is available will be necessary in order to preserve my clients’ rights to recover under the UM coverage and any other insurance policies.  In fact, if you would rather settle within your insured’s policy limits now, you can do that by providing that release document with all the insurance information as requested in the attached, along with your insured’s available bodily injury liability insurance proceeds.

The accompanying letter from the claimants’ counsel, also dated June 2, 2009, requested various insurance information within 30 days and stated that “[a]ny settlement will be conditioned upon [the] receipt of all the requested insurance information.”
Counsel for the insurer did not consider the letter from the claimants’ counsel as an offer to settle within policy limits and thus did not respond to the letter.   On July 10, 2009 (38 days later), the claimants filed a lawsuit.  On July 13, 2009 ( 41 days later), counsel for the claimants sent a letter to the insurer stating that the 6/2/09 offer to settle within policy limits was withdrawn.  The claimants thereafter obtained a jury verdict in July 2012 awarding $5,334,220 in favor of the minor child.
An administrator for the insured’s estate filed a lawsuit against the insurer asserting that the insurer negligently or in bad faith had failed to settle the minor child’s claim within policy limits.   The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the insurer, but the Court of Appeals reversed and concluded that there were material issues of fact as to whether the 6/2/09 letters from the claimants’ counsel offered to settle the minor child’s claims within policy limits and whether the offer included a 30-day deadline for a response.  Hughes v. First Acceptance Ins. Co. of Ga., Inc., 343 Ga.App. 693, 697, 808 S.E.2d 103 (2017).
The Georgia Supreme Court granted the insurer’s petition for certiorari and stated that it was particularly concerned with (1) whether there were material issues of fact as to whether the 6/2/09 letter from the claimants’ counsel offered to settle the minor child’s claim within the policy limits and established a 30-day deadline to accept the offer; and (2) whether the insurer’s duty to settle arises “when it knows or reasonably should know settlement within the insured’s policy limits is possible with an injured party or only when the injured party presents a valid offer to settle within the insured’s policy limits?”
The Georgia Supreme Court’s rulings on these issues likely will have a significant impact on Georgia insurers and their exposure to negligent or bad faith failure to settle claims.  Oral argument has been scheduled for September.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Bill Buechner at bbuechner@fmglaw.com.