Facts

In late July 2013, plaintiff Boris Grayfer left his leased 2013 Chevrolet Camaro parked on the street in Los Angeles, and went to Palm Springs for the weekend. He gave the spare transponder key to his nephew to move the car while he was gone to avoid being ticketed during street cleaning days. When plaintiff returned from Palm Springs, his Camaro was gone. Plaintiff's nephew had given the key back to plaintiff and informed plaintiff that the car should be on the street where plaintiff had left it. Plaintiff determined the car had not been towed, and then made an insurance claim with his insurer, defendant Wawanesa, for the theft of his Camaro.

Wawanesa began its investigation of the claim, and determined that certain factors, namely the existence of the transponder key, making the car very difficult to steal, warranted transferring the claim to the Special Investigations Unit. Wawanesa took recorded statements of plaintiff and his family members, and Wawanesa found inconsistencies in the recorded statements that required further investigation and document production from plaintiff.

Wawanesa then felt that an Examination Under Oath of plaintiff was warranted, which was not scheduled until November 2013. Plaintiff received the Examination Under Oath transcript in December 2013, and returned it to Wawanesa in February 2014. Pursuant to the terms of plaintiff's insurance policy with Wawanesa, plaintiff was to sign his Examination Under Oath under penalty of perjury before Wawanesa was obligated to pay the claim.

After Wawanesa received plaintiff's signed Examination Under Oath transcript back, Wawanesa paid plaintiff's claim in full to US Bank, the leaseholder and owner of the Camaro.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff contended that Wawanesa breached the insurance contract and acted in bad faith by taking too long to investigate plaintiff's insurance claim, asking for unnecessary information and documents from plaintiff, and having plaintiff submit to an Examination Under Oath after plaintiff had already undergone two recorded statements. Additionally, plaintiff contended that plaintiff had to bring the instant lawsuit in order for plaintiff's claim to be paid.

Further, plaintiff contended that Wawanesa caused him severe emotional distress because he felt abused by the investigation Wawanesa put him through.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff hired an attorney, and then so did Wawanesa. This slowed down the pace of the investigation.

Defendant contended that it did not breach the insurance contract nor commit insurance bad faith as it paid plaintiff's claim after a reasonably necessary investigation. Any such alleged delays in the investigation of plaintiff's insurance claim were caused by plaintiff and/or his attorney.

Wawanesa also contended that plaintiff's pre-existing psychological disorders were the source of his emotional distress and had nothing to do with Wawanesa's behavior.

Result

The jury found in favor of the defense on breach of contract, and therefore, there was no insurance bad faith.

Other Information

The Business and Professions Code section 17200 cause of action was dismissed shortly before trial. FILING DATE: Jan. 21, 2014.