Smith v. USAA Property & Casualty Insurance

974 P.2d 1095, 132 Idaho 466, 1999 Ida. LEXIS 25
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 16, 1999
DocketNo. 23697
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 974 P.2d 1095 (Smith v. USAA Property & Casualty Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. USAA Property & Casualty Insurance, 974 P.2d 1095, 132 Idaho 466, 1999 Ida. LEXIS 25 (Idaho 1999).

Opinion

TROUT, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment motion granted in favor of USAA Property and Casualty Insurance on an insurance bad faith claim. We affirm the district court’s ruling.

I.

BACKGROUND

The appellant, Tammi Smith (Smith), was involved in an automobile accident in Lewiston, Idaho, in which she collided with a vehicle driven by Alice Chappell (Chappell). Smith suffered bodily injury and damage to her automobile as a result of the accident. At the time of the accident, Smith was insured by the respondent, USAA Property and Casualty Insurance (USAA), and Chappell was insured by Mutual of Enumclaw (Mutual). USAA paid Smith’s medical expenses, in the amount of $3,371.87, and her property damage, in the amount of $8,015.61. A clause in Smith’s contract with USAA gave USAA the right to be subrogated to Smith’s right to recover damages from another. In a letter to Smith after the accident, USAA informed Smith of that right and advised Smith not to sign any type of release unless the release was for her interest only. In a [468]*468subsequent letter to Smith’s attorney, USAA stated that they would waive subrogation if her settlement with Mutual reached the limit of Mutual’s coverage.

In negotiating with Mutual regarding Smith’s property damage, USAA agreed that Smith was 25% negligent, and therefore, Mutual paid only 75% of Smith’s property damage. Smith objected to the 75%/25% liability apportionment and began her own negotiations with Mutual with respect to her personal injury claim. Smith and Mutual agreed that Smith’s personal injury damages totaled $12,000. However, because USAA had conceded that Smith was 25% negligent, Mutual refused to settle the claim for more than $9,000. Ultimately, Smith accepted the $9,000 settlement. After Smith received the settlement, USAA demanded $2,528.90 from Smith, which constituted 75% of the money USAA paid for Smith’s medical bills. Smith then placed $3,371.87 in trust, refusing to pay USAA, and brought an action for a declaratory judgment stating that USAA was not entitled under the insurance policy to recover its subrogated interest from Smith because Smith had not been fully compensated for her damages by Mutual. In her complaint, Smith also alleged breach of contract and insurance bad faith.

Both USAA and Smith moved for summary judgment. In response to USAA’s motion for summary judgment, Smith submitted to the court the affidavit of Joe Conway (Conway), an expert in the adjustment of automobile insurance claims. USAA filed a motion to strike Conway’s affidavit. The district judge denied USAA’s motion to strike, but stated that it would not consider paragraphs five, six, and seven of Conway’s affidavit because they contained inadmissible evidence. The district judge granted Smith’s motion for summary judgment with respect to the declaratory judgment and breach of contract claim, and granted USAA’s motion for summary judgment with respect to the bad faith claim.

Smith filed a motion for reconsideration of the district judge’s ruling regarding the admissibility of portions of Conway’s affidavit and the bad faith claim, and supported her motion with a second affidavit by Conway. The district judge denied Smith’s motion for reconsideration and also denied Smith’s request for attorney’s fees under I.C. § 41-1839(1).

II.

THE DISTRICT JUDGE PROPERLY GRANTED USAA’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT.

A. Standard of Review

When reviewing a trial court’s ruling on a summary judgment motion, the Court should employ “the same standard properly employed by the district court when originally ruling on the motion.” Lamb v. Manweiler, 129 Idaho 269, 271-72, 923 P.2d 976, 978-79 (1996) (citing Friel v. Boise City Hous. Auth., 126 Idaho 484, 485, 887 P.2d 29, 30 (1994)). Summary judgment is proper only when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id. at 271, 923 P.2d at 978 (citing I.R.C.P. 56(c); Mutual of Enumclaw v. Box, 127 Idaho 851, 852, 908 P,2d 153, 154 (1995)). The record must be liberally construed in favor of the party opposing the motion for summary judgment, drawing all reasonable inferences and conclusions supported by the record in favor of that party. Id. at 272, 923 P.2d at 979 (citing City of Chubbuck v. City of Pocatello, 127 Idaho 198, 200, 899 P.2d 411, 413 (1995)).

B. Bad Faith

In her appeal, Smith asserts that the district judge erred in granting USAA’s motion for summary judgment on the bad faith claim. In support of her assertion, Smith argues that the trial court abused its discretion in not considering portions of Conway’s affidavit submitted by Smith in opposition to USAA’s motion for summary judgment. Additionally, Smith asserts that the trial court did not consider Conway’s second affidavit when ruling on the motion to reconsider and not considering the affidavit was error. Before this Court is able to address the district judge’s ruling with regard to the affidavits and motion to reconsider, we first find it necessary to determine whether the facts of [469]*469this case, without reference to the expert opinion, are sufficient for a cause of action in bad faith.

We have stated that an insurer commits the tort of bad faith when it “intentionally and unreasonably denies or delays payment on a claim, and in the process harms the claimant in such a way not fully compensable at contract____” White v. Unigard Mut. Ins. Co., 112 Idaho 94, 98, 730 P.2d 1014, 1018 (1986) (quotes and citations omitted). However, “[a]n insurer does not act in bad faith when it challenges the validity of a ‘fairly debatable’ claim, or when its delay results from honest mistakes.” Id. at 100, 730 P.2d at 1020.

We find that under the facts of this case, there is no cause of action for bad faith. In this case, Smith asserts bad faith because, after Smith received payment from Mutual, USAA asserted a right to subrogation for the money previously paid to Smith for her medical expenses. Under the terms of Smith’s contract with USAA1 after USAA asserted a right to subrogation, Smith was required to, and did, place the money in trust. Smith argues that because USAA made an initial agreement with Mutual as to Smith’s portion of liability, she had no choice but to settle for 75% of the value of the claim and as a result was not fully compensated. Under the contract, USAA was entitled to a recovery only after the insured had been fully compensated for damages by another party. Therefore, Smith alleges, USAA wrongfully asserted its right to subrogation because she had not been fully compensated and by asserting its right to subrogation, Smith was forced to place part of the payment from Mutual in trust. This course of conduct, Smith argues, constituted an intentional or unreasonable delay on payment of the claim.

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Bluebook (online)
974 P.2d 1095, 132 Idaho 466, 1999 Ida. LEXIS 25, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-usaa-property-casualty-insurance-idaho-1999.