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Sampson v. American Standard Insurance Co.7/29/1998
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, C.H. Pelton, Judge.
Plaintiff insured appeals from a district court decision granting defendant insurer's motion for partial summary judgment and dismissing plaintiff insured's bad faith claim against insurer. AFFIRMED.
Plaintiff Veronica Sampson appeals the district court's ruling entering partial summary judgment in favor of defendant American Standard Insurance Company (American Standard) and dismissing her first- party bad faith claim for failure to pay benefits under the uninsured motorist and medical expenses coverage provisions of an automobile insurance policy issued to her by American Standard. We affirm.
I. Background facts and proceedings.
On November 30, 1995, plaintiff Veronica Sampson was involved in an automobile collision with a vehicle driven by Katherine Williams. Neither driver appeared to be seriously injured in the collision and no ambulance was called to the scene. Sampson and Williams were both able to drive their vehicles after the accident. Sampson did not immediately seek medical attention for any injuries received from the accident, but did see Dr. Robert Illingworth at the Palmer College of Chiropractic (Palmer Clinic) for neck and headache pain later that day.
Following the accident, Sampson contacted defendant American Standard, her automobile insurance carrier. Sampson's automobile policy with American Standard provided $2000 in coverage for medical expenses and $25,000 in uninsured motorist (UM) coverage. American Standard appraised the damage to Sampson's vehicle and issued a check under Sampson's collision coverage to cover the costs of repairing the vehicle.
On December 18, Sampson spoke with American Standard claims adjuster, Rich Heller. Heller indicated that American Standard had concluded that Williams was 100 percent at-fault for the accident, but that Williams was not insured at the time of the accident. Heller then explained to Sampson the uninsured motorist benefits included in her policy. During this conversation, Sampson informed Heller that she had missed time from work, apparently from injuries she sustained from the accident. American Standard later issued checks to Sampson under the UM coverage to reimburse her for lost time from work and also made payments to Palmer Clinic under the medical coverage for treatment provided to Sampson between November 30 and December 13.
Heller and Sampson spoke again on January 29, 1996, and Heller's notes from this conversation report that Sampson advised Heller that she would receive treatment at Palmer Clinic for an additional three to four months. Heller's notes also indicate that American Standard agreed to wait until Sampson finished treatment to conclude her claim for benefits. On February 16, American Standard paid a supplemental repair bill for Sampson's vehicle and issued another payment to Palmer Clinic on March 21 under the medical expenses coverage for treatment provided to Sampson.
Heller and Sampson next spoke on April 1, at which time Sampson advised Heller that she was still having neck pain and that she was still being treated at Palmer Clinic. After their conversation, Heller wrote to Palmer Clinic requesting copies of Sampson's medical records, including preaccident records. Palmer Clinic responded to Heller's request on April 4. The records American Standard received from Palmer Clinic concerning Sampson began at page forty-nine with the first entry being for Sampson's visit the day of the accident. In a note to the file, Heller stated that Sampson's postaccident records "are replete with intervening accidents." This comment was apparently based in part
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