Opinion ID: 166418
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether the Initial Reporting Included a Claim

Text: 24 Roberts contends the initial reporting included a claim. Roberts is correct that Shelter was treating the loss, and acting, as if a claim had been made. Aplt. Br. at 20. Roberts is also correct that a claim was made. In fact, two claims were actually made. However, Roberts asserted a PIP claim, not a liability claim, against Printup, and the other claim related to the property damage suffered by the city where the accident occurred. Shelter's response indicated its belief that these claims were made, but that a liability claim had not been made against Printup. 3 25 On April 25, 2000, Roberts and/or Printup contacted Shelter to report an accident through Shelter's toll-free reporting line. By May 4, 2000, Shelter supervisor Dauer was aware that Roberts had a potential claim against Printup and wanted Seibolt to acquire all information possible about any bodily injury that Roberts may have suffered. 26 It is not necessary that a party initiate litigation by the filing of a complaint before the insurer's duty arises to act in good faith and without negligence in the handling of a claim against an insured. Smith v. Blackwell, 14 Kan.App.2d 158, 791 P.2d 1343, 1346 (1989). The court in Smith concluded that the insurer's receipt of a pre-suit policy limits demand imposed upon the insurer a duty of good faith and to act without negligence in handling such a claim against the insured even though a suit had not been filed. Id. However, knowledge that a party may pursue a claim is not the equivalent of the Smith pre-suit policy limit demand, nor does this knowledge create tension between the interests of the insurer and the insured, for at this point there is only the potential of a claim, not an actual claim to be settled. It is the insurer's control over approving a settlement and the tension between the interests of the insurer and the insured that necessitates the imposition of a duty upon the insurer to consider the interests of the insured. Bennett v. Conrady, 180 Kan. 485, 305 P.2d 823, 827 (1957). 27 Applying those principles to the case at hand, we conclude that at the point when the accident was initially reported, and later when the accompanying PIP and city property damage claims were made, the interests of the insured and the insurer were not yet in conflict. 28