Opinion ID: 1659645
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: whether the circuit court erred in granting u.s.a.a.'s motion for summary judgment.

Text: Theresa and Larry's claim for punitive damages and the additional living expenses they claimed arose from the alleged wrongful failure to pay them alone the dwelling loss claim. The circuit court granted U.S.A.A.'s motion for partial summary judgment, and found U.S.A.A.'s actions in this regard not to constitute bad faith refusal to pay. We agree, under the facts of this case, there was no bad faith refusal to pay. The reasoning behind this position is straightforward. Our case law now recognizes a three factor test for determining whether insurance proceeds should be shared. See Sullivan v. Estate of Eason, 558 So.2d 830 (Miss. 1990). This inquiry is fact-intensive and takes into account such subjective factors as the intent of the insurance procurer and the existence of implied agreements between co-owners. No matter who is paid under these circumstances, there is always the risk that a court with access to more evidence will allocate the proceeds differently. All that we should require under these circumstances is payment and an arguable basis for the selection of payees. Obviously payment to a remote, unrelated party could amount to a bad faith refusal to pay. However, payment in reliance on objective factors such as the ownership interests reflected on the deed to the property, although subject to ultimately being proven to be an incorrect allocation, cannot be said to be a bad faith refusal to pay. Accordingly, the lower court's summary judgment on this issue was proper and should be affirmed. HAWKINS, C.J., PITTMAN and JAMES L. ROBERTS, Jr., JJ., join this opinion.