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Insurance

Jul. 31, 2006

Newest Uses and Abuses of the Genuine-Dispute Doctrine

A while ago, California courts started to summarily adjudicate out (that is, before trial) a bad-faith claim; that would happen if the insurer provided a sufficiently persuasive rationale for its position (whether ultimately correct or not) regarding a legal issue relating to the presence of coverage.

Rex Heeseman

JAMS

555 W 5th St Fl 32
Los Angeles , CA 90013-1055

Phone: (213) 253-9772

Fax: (213) 620-0100

Email: rheeseman@jamsdar.com

Stanford Univ Law School

Rex Heeseman retired from the Los Angeles Count Superior Court bench in 2014. He is at JAMS, Los Angeles. Besides speaking at various MCLE programs, he co-authors The Rutter Group's practice guide on "Insurance Litigation." From 2002 to 2015, he was an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School.

Focus Column

By Rex Heeseman



A while ago, California courts started to summarily adjudicate out (that is, before trial) a bad-faith claim; that would happen if the insurer provided a sufficiently persuasive rationale for its position (whether ultimately correct or not) regarding a legal issue relating to the presence of coverage. See, e.g., Opsal v. United Services Automobile Association, 2 Cal.App.4th 1197 (1991). This "genuine dispute"...

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