Georgia Injury Lawyers Blog
Most bad-faith cases involve disagreements over the meaning of a particular provision of the insurance policy, the resolution of which resolves the issue of coverage. Where the insured prevails on the coverage issue in such cases, it will sometimes be because the court found the provision ambiguous and construed it in favor of coverage. Notwithstanding a ruling in favor of coverage in a particular case, the issue of whether the insurance company relied on the ambiguous provision in “bad faith” would still remain. The cases are mixed as to whether an insurer can face liability for bad faith when the insurer denies coverage in reliance on an ambiguous policy provision. As shown below, however, the modern trend appears to be that an insurance company’s reliance on an ambiguous provision does not shield the insurer from bad faith as a matter of law.
The Northwestern Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Ross
One of the earliest bad-faith cases involved ambiguity in an insurance policy. In The Northwestern Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Ross, the Supreme Court of Georgia found that the insurance company had relied on an ambiguous policy in denying coverage. Construing the ambiguity in favor of the insured, the Court found that coverage existed and affirmed the verdict in favor of the insured. In discussing its conclusion as to the meaning of the operative clause, the Court referred to the fact that other jurisdictions had reached an opposite conclusion as to the meaning of the operative clause.