Who has “standing” to sue an insuance company for bad faith. Does someone living in Grand Prairie, Arlington, Mansfield, Keller, Colleyville, Fort Worth or Dallas?
USLegal defines “standing” this way:
Standing is the ability of a party to bring a lawsuit in court based upon their stake in the outcome. A party seeking to demonstrate standing must be able to show the court sufficient connection to and harm from the law or action challenged. Otherwise, the court will rule that you “lack standing” to bring the suit and dismiss your case.
The common-law duty of good faith and fair dealing extends protection to the insured, whether the insured obtained the coverage directly or coverage was obtained for the insured. The Texas Supreme Court, in Arnold v. National County Mutual Fire Insurance Co., recognized in 1987, a common-law duty of good faith and fair dealing owed to an insured, which arises from the “special relationship” established by the insurance contract. The court expanded this duty of good faith and fair dealing to a worker insured under a workers’ compensation policy purchased by his employer in the 1988 case, Aranda v. Insurance Company of North America.
In the case, CNA Insurance Company v. Scheffey, the Texarkana Court of Appeals, in 1992, held that an insurance company does not owe a duty of good faith and fair dealing to third-party beneficiary. In this case, the third-party beneficiary was a treating physician. A similar result was found the same year by the Fort Worth Court of Appeals in, Transportation Insurance Company v. Archer, when they denied mental anguish damages to a spouse as the result of the insurance companies breach of its duty to an employee.
These cases can be contrasted with a decision by the Court of Appeals in El Paso, that in 1992, held that an insurer does owe a duty of good faith and fair dealing to a third-party beneficiary of an insurance policy. This was followed by another 1992 case decided by the Court of Appeals, Houston, 1st District, saying an HMO owes a duty of good faith and fair dealing to health care providers.
As can be seen, these cases can be all over the board on outcomes. An Insurance Law Attorney can usually distinguish the facts in these cases but even for an experienced attorney the reasoning can be confusing at times.
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