Court Opinion

ID: 9684318
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 13:53:30.240809+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:49.410002
License: Public Domain

CLAYTON, Justice
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion. Simply stated, I cannot agree that a trial judge, even though trained in legal principles, is better qualified than a jury of twelve properly instructed individuals in (1) resolving issues of fact, (2) gauging the actions of an insurance company, and (3) answering the ultimate question of whether bad faith is present. Admittedly, many of the factual situations would appear to be interwoven beyond separation, but it is the well-settled practice in a majority of the various jurisdictions to submit a wide range of issues of varying complexity to the jury for resolution. For cases illustrating this proposition see Atlantic Mut Ins. Co. v. Cooney, 303 F.2d 253 (9th Cir. 1962); Tennessee Farmers Mut. Ins. Co. v. Wood, 277 F.2d 21 (6th Cir. 1960); Hamilton v. State Farm Ins. Co., 83 Wash.2d 787, 523 P.2d 193 (1974).
Further, I cannot accept that part of the majority opinion which overrules the proceedings in State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co. v. Marcum, Ky., 420 S.W.2d 113 (1967); American Surety Co. of N. Y. v. J. F. Schneider & Son, Ky., 307 S.W.2d 192 (1957); and Harrod v. Meridian Mutual Insurance Co., Ky., 389 S.W.2d 74 (1964). Such an unsettling of existing law is perplexing to the trial bar and judge. See Campbell v. Government Employees’ Ins. Co., Fla., 306 So.2d 525 (1974). The majority opinion should, at least, be made prospective.
Today juries are sufficiently sophisticated in the field of insurance to adequately find from the facts if an insurance company has acted in bad faith. In Highway Insurance Underwriters v. Lufkin-Beaumont Motor Coaches, Inc. (Texas Civ.App.) 215 S.W.2d 904 (1948), the court said, at page 928:
“Whether Insurer breached the applicable standard of conduct is not easy to determine; determination of such an issue requires an exceedingly precise evaluation of evidence.”
Recognizing the difficulties attendant in the task of sifting through the evidence, not to mention answering the questions surrounding “due care,” “good faith,” and *502“conflicts of interest” on the part of the insurer, the court in Highway Insurance Underwriters, supra, went on to say, at page 928:
“Under the circumstances, then, we shall be justified in requiring of Insurer a strict compliance with the burden of proof. However, we can make no greater demand of Insured for, as we have stated, the fact that room for a difference of opinion exists eventually makes the question one for the jury, not for this court.” (emphasis added)
I could more easily accept the majority opinion if the litigant were given an option between the judge and the jury.