Opinion ID: 879244
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Did the District Court Overinstruct the Jury?

Text: FIG's position under this issue is that the District Court erred in including in its charge to the jury a verbatim reproduction of the fourteen proscribed unfair claim settlement practices contained in the Montana Insurance Code (section 33-18-201, MCA). FIG's claim is based on its argument that the majority of the unfair claims settlement practices enumerated in section 33-18-201 have no applicability to any issue in this case. FIG relies on Richland County v. Anderson (1955), 129 Mont. 559, 291 P.2d 267; Bogovich v. Chicago-Milwaukee-St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Co. (1949), 122 Mont. 312, 203 P.2d 971; and Garrison v. Trowbridge (1947), 119 Mont. 505, 177 P.2d 464, among others. There was at least an arguable basis for the submission to the jury for the determination of issues under the following unfair claims settlement practices contained in section 33-18-201, MCA: (1) misrepresenting insurance policy provisions relating to coverages at issue; (2) failing to acknowledge and act reasonably promptly upon communications with respect to claims; (3) failing to adopt and implement reasonable standards for the prompt investigation of claims; (4) refusal to pay claims without conducting a reasonable investigation based upon available information; (5) failing to affirm or deny coverage within a reasonable time after proof of loss statements have been completed; (6) neglecting in good faith to effectuate settlements in which liability had become reasonably clear; (7) compelling the insureds to institute litigation to recover the amounts due by offering substantially less than the amounts ultimately recovered; (8) attempting to settle a claim for less than the amount to which a reasonable man would be entitled to by reference to advertising material or an application; (9) making claims payments to insureds and beneficiaries not accompanied by statements setting forth the coverage under which the payments were made; (10) delaying the investigation or payment of claims by requiring an insured to submit preliminary claim reports and subsequent formal proof of loss which contains substantially the same information; (11) failure to promptly settle a claim if liability has become reasonably clear; and (12) failing to promptly provide a reasonable explanation of the basis for denial of a claim. Of the fourteen unfair settlement practices listed in section 33-18-201, MCA, only two appear to be not applicable to this case. They are: (1) attempting to settle claims on the basis of an application which is altered without notice or knowledge of the insured; and (2) making known to insureds a policy of appealing from arbitration awards to compel settlements. We determine that the inclusion of those two unfair claims settlement practices in the jury charge was harmless in this case. Such error is not prejudicial where it appears that without the erroneous instruction the same verdict would be rendered. Wolfe v. Schulz Refrigeration (1979), 188 Mont. 511, 614 P.2d 1015.