Bernacchi v. First Chicago Ins. Co.

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-insurance company’s motion to dismiss plaintiff-insured’s action seeking specific performance to “adjust [plaintiff’s] claim” submitted to defendant as insured under policy issued by defendant to third-party. Plaintiff wanted defendant to either admit or deny liability with respect to her claim and to state amount of compensatory damages to which she is entitled, as well as to provide factual basis for said figure. While plaintiff asserted that defendant did not timely process her claim for benefits under policy, there was no provision in policy that required defendant to process plaintiff’s claim within certain timeframe. Moreover, Dist. Ct. could properly find that plaintiff’s lawsuit was premised on certain provisions of Illinois Insurance Code, and that said provisions did not provide plaintiff with private right of action to bring instant lawsuit. As such, plaintiff’s only recourse was to submit complaint to Dept. of Insurance to enforce Insurance Code.