Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co. v. Lin

Plaintiff incurred serious injuries in work-related car accident with tortfeasor who had no car insurance. Defendant-insured thereafter sought underinsured coverage under employer’s policy. Plaintiff-insurance company filed instant action to determine limits of its liability under said coverage. Policy had arbitration clause. Dist. Ct. did not err in finding that arbitration clause did not apply to plaintiff’s bad faith claim. Moreover, Dist. Ct. did not err in dismissing plaintiff’s breach of contract bad-faith claim, where there was nothing in policy that required plaintiff to settle defendant’s claim within set time frame, and policy did not incorporate any state insurance regulations or insurance statutes/regulations. Record showed that arbitration panel found that plaintiff had incurred $1,063,895 in damages arising out of accident, and Dist. Ct. did not err in reducing $1,000,000 underinsurance policy limit by Workers’ Compensation benefits received by defendant and by $100,000 settlement proceeds received by defendant in his state-court action against tortfeasor.