Harvey v. GEICO General Insurance Co.
GEICO tendered its $100,000 policy limits days after its insured caused a fatal crash but its adjuster failed to communicate the estate's request for a statement of the insured's assets, and the estate rejected the tender and obtained an $8.47 million wrongful death judgment. A jury found bad faith; the Fourth DCA reversed, holding the evidence legally insufficient and that the insured's own inaction defeated causation. The Florida Supreme Court quashed, holding competent substantial evidence supported the bad faith verdict and rejecting any rule that an insured's partial contribution to an excess judgment absolves the insurer.
Key facts
- GEICO's insured caused a fatal crash; GEICO tendered its $100,000 policy limits days after the incident but its adjuster failed to communicate the estate's request for a statement of the insured's assets.
- The estate rejected GEICO's tender and obtained an $8.47 million wrongful death judgment against the insured.
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Why it matters
This is the leading modern Florida Supreme Court statement on third-party bad faith failure to settle and is cited constantly. Plaintiff-side counsel can use it to defeat directed verdicts and to argue that tendering… — full analysis with a trial
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