Can Insurer's Conduct During Claims Administrative Process Expose It to Tort Liability?

4 months ago

On January 20, 2012, WSH obtained a complete defense victory for a major insurer in a case involving a unique section of Florida's Workers' Compensation Law. An employee who was injured in an on-the-job accident more than 10 years ago sued his insurer for "intentional infliction of emotional distress," arguing that the insurer's conduct during the claims administration process was deliberately intended to (and did) worsen his injuries. The employee demanded punitive and a million dollars in compensatory damages.

After six years of litigation, Joseph H. Serota and Timothy M. Ravich successfully obtained summary judgment in favor of the insured on the legal basis that the insurer's conduct was not "virtually certain" to injure or kill the employee as would be required for a jury to find liability under the intentional tort exception of the 2003 version of the Workers' Compensation Law. The trial judge vindicated the insurer's position throughout the litigation, awarding zero damages and rejecting the employee's argument that his case fell within an exceptionally narrow set of circumstances in which the Supreme Court of Florida found an insurer could be liable for intentional wrongdoing in administering a workers' compensation claim.

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Can Insurer's Conduct During Claims Administrative Process Expose It to Tort Liability?

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