There are few greater risks to an insurers’ reputation and its balance sheet than allegations of bad faith. With the potential for punitive damages and class action lawsuits, bad faith claims challenge fundamental claims handling by insurers. Our attorneys’ knowledge of the insurance industry and our understanding of how an insurer conducts its business give us the necessary perspective to defend against allegations of insurer bad faith.

The level of insurers’ confidence in Walker Wilcox’s skills is evident in the severity and complexity of bad faith cases entrusted to Walker Wilcox, and this confidence has been rewarded with impressive results. For example, we successfully defended a liability insurer in connection with a multimillion-dollar claim for attorneys’ fees and loss allegedly incurred by an insured attorney in two complex underlying lawsuits. After trial, the court held that the insurer did not breach its duty to defend or act in bad faith in its claim handling. The court ruled that the insurer was not obligated to indemnify the insured for any loss it allegedly incurred in the underlying lawsuits. This decision was affirmed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on June 6, 2012 (unpublished).