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Insurers must comply with broad discovery requests, judge rules.

Publication: Trial
Publication Date: 01-NOV-04 		Format: Online - approximately 1126 words
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Full Article Title: Insurers must comply with broad discovery requests, judge rules.(Pennsylvania)

Article Excerpt
A federal trial court in Pennsylvania has ordered four insurance companies--accused of bad faith in refusing to pay an insured's disability claim--to turn over scores of documents that could show a nationwide "pattern and practice" of rejecting valid claims to increase profits. (Saldi v. Paul Revere Life Ins. Co., No. CIV.A. 99-6563, 2004 WL 1858403 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 13, 2004).)

In a 51-page opinion, District Court Judge R. Barclay Surrick granted plaintiff Thomas Saldi access to documents including "profitability analyses," training materials, claims-management studies, and personnel files. Saldi is seeking proof that the defendants adopted a nationwide plan that encouraged employees to deny claims under certain disability policies because those policies had proven unprofitable.

Saldi's lawyer, Alan Casper of Philadelphia, hailed the ruling as a significant victory for plaintiffs who allege bad faith handling of their insurance claims. It is the first published opinion to conclude that the U.S. Supreme Court's 2003 decision in State Farm Mutual Automobile insurance Co. v. Campbell does not limit plaintiffs' discovery in...

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