Sometimes You Just Gotta Ask In Bad Faith.

Plaintiff was injured in a collision and filed suit three and a half months later. Liability against the insured defendant was clear. Seven months after the collision, plaintiff provided medical records to the insurance company. Four months after that, the insurer tendered its policy limits of $100,000. Two years after that, after a bench trial, judgment against the insured was entered for $5.9 million. The insured defendant declared bankruptcy, and the bankruptcy trustee assigned to plaintiff any potential rights the insured had against her insurance company. Plaintiff filed suit in the instant action against the underlying defendant’s insurance company for bad faith failure to settle. The insurance company filed a motion for summary judgment; the sole basis of the motion was that plaintiff could not prove bad faith because plaintiff never made a demand for settlement within the policy limits. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the insurance company. The appellate court affirmed, stating: “An insurer’s duty to settle is not precipitated solely by the likelihood of an excess judgment against the insured. In the absence of a settlement demand or any other manifestation the injured party is interested in settlement, when the insurer has done nothing to foreclose the possibility of settlement, we find there is no liability for bad faith failure to settle.” (Reid v. Mercury Ins. Co.  (Cal. App. Second Dist., Div. 8; October 7, 2013) (As Mod. November 6, 2013) 220 Cal.App.4th 262, [162 Cal.Rptr.3d 894].)