Earlier today, Blawgletter reported a Tenth Circuit decision, under Kansas law, exonerating an insurer that at first refused to pay on a claim but later tendered policy limits. Meanwhile, the Eleventh Circuit held today, under Florida law, that an insurer’s post-litigation offer to pay policy limits doesn’t defeat a bad faith claim arising from the delay. Macola v. Government Employees Ins. Co., No. 04-10436 (11th Cir. Apr. 11, 2007) (accepting answers to questions that court certified to Florida Supreme Court).
The decisions strike Blawgletter as in tension if not outright conflict — except when you consider that one applies Sunflower State law and the other Sunshine State law. That may make all the difference.
Barry Barnett
