Bad Faith Litigation: Discovery of Claims Management Goals and Adjuster-Performance Incentives

This CLE webinar will discuss the discovery of claims management goals and adjuster performance incentives in bad faith insurance litigation. The panel will discuss when and why this information is relevant, what kinds of requests are appropriate and how to make them, what objections are likely to be raised, and what makes them succeed or fail.

A plaintiff often contends that its claim was denied in bad faith because the adjustor who handled the claim had a financial incentive to deny legitimate claims. Courts have found that whether insurers have arbitrary goals for reducing claims or whether salaries and bonuses are paid for doing so are relevant to whether an insurer acted unreasonably and was aware of it.

In the era of runaway verdicts, this information can have a powerful effect on the jury. Discovery requests typically ask for targets, goals, plans, measurements, milestones or incentives, budgets, goals, financial measurements, and financial results. Insurers frequently object on a number of predictable grounds and may have valid concerns over the scope of the requests or how responses are to be produced. Once produced, it may be difficult to keep the data in context.

Listen as this preeminent panel of insurance litigators discusses the discoverability of claims management goals and adjuster performance incentives in bad faith insurance litigation and how recurring objections can be defeated or sustained.