Opinion ID: 1836674
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Whether Expert Witnesses Were Properly Allowed to Testify Concerning Essential Elements of Plaintiff's Bad Faith Claim.

Text: By pretrial motion and during trial, plaintiff sought to exclude the testimony of three personal-injury attorneys who testified as expert witnesses and supported the decisions of American Family and its attorneys. The district court allowed the testimony of these witnesses. Plaintiff urges that this was error because bad-faith claims are not negligence actions based on a particular standard of care. Consequently, he argues, the jury had no need to hear expert testimony in order to determine whether American Family met a certain standard. We disagree with plaintiff's characterization of the use of this evidence. The propriety of certain actions or decisions on the part of American Family's attorneys had been placed before the jury as the result of plaintiff's claims. Plaintiff was attempting to show that it was unreasonable to reject his offer to settle for the policy limits. To rebut this contention, American Family called as a witness an experienced personal-injury litigator who had been made familiar with the facts available to American Family and its lawyers. That witness testified that the probability for a verdict in excess of the policy limits was slight. We believe that this was relevant evidence in aid of American Family's defense of the bad-faith claim. Two other experienced attorneys testified as to the quality of American Family's communication with Jennings concerning the status of settlement negotiations and the potential for a verdict in excess of policy limits. In their opinion, American Family and its lawyers acted properly with respect to both of these areas of communication. The sufficiency of such communication had been expressly challenged by plaintiff in his claim that American Family did not act properly towards its insured. Consequently, this was a matter as to which American Family was entitled to present evidence contradicting plaintiff's claims. The admissibility of opinion evidence, lay or expert, is a matter that is largely entrusted to the discretion of the trial court. Thavenet v. Davis, 589 N.W.2d 233, 234 (Iowa 1999); Sonnek v. Warren, 522 N.W.2d 45, 50 (Iowa 1994). We conclude that there was no abuse of discretion in allowing the testimony of American Family's expert witnesses concerning the issues that we have discussed.