Opinion ID: 2640593
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 19

Heading: the standard of care, whose breach gives rise to an actionable tort claim against the insurer, calls for a showing of want of good faith in handling the claim

Text: ¶ 14 The standard of care whose nonfulfillment will give rise to an insured's actionable claim against the insurer for bad faith emanates from the latter's refusal to settle in good faith a covered loss. It falls neither under the common-law [18] rubric of a willful delict nor into the category of claims in negligence. [19] The bad-faith tort, which is to be regarded as sui generis, [20] stands predicated on bad-faith breach of the insurer's contract-based fundamental duty to protect the insured in good faith against the liability consequences of a policy-covered loss. ¶ 15 Bad-faith [21] is statutorily defined by the provisions of 25 O.S.2001 § 9, where its meaning is explained in this language: Good faith consists in an honest intention to abstain from taking any unconscientious advantage of another, even through the forms or technicalities of law, together with an absence of all information or belief of facts which would render the transaction unconscientious. The standard of care for whose breach will arise a bad-faith claim is governed by the words of the quoted statute. It is utterly unnecessary and improper to force the Christian tort into imprisonment within either of the two traditional common-law rubrics for tort liability. [22] V