Boylan v. American Motorists Ins. Co., No. 91-1520
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Iowa |
| Writing for the Court | CARTER |
| Citation | 489 N.W.2d 742 |
| Parties | Robert BOYLAN, Appellant, v. AMERICAN MOTORISTS INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee. |
| Docket Number | No. 91-1520 |
| Decision Date | 23 September 1992 |
Page 742
v.
AMERICAN MOTORISTS INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee.
Rehearing Denied Oct. 23, 1992.
Lyle A. Rodenburg, Council Bluffs, for appellant.
Craig A. Levien and Vicki L. Seeck of Betty, Neuman & McMahon, Davenport, for appellee.
Considered by HARRIS, P.J., and LARSON, CARTER, LAVORATO, and SNELL, JJ.
CARTER, Justice.
Plaintiff, Robert Boylan, appeals from an order granting a motion to dismiss his bad-faith tort claim against his employer's workers' compensation insurance carrier, defendant, American Motorist Insurance Company (American). After considering the arguments presented, we reverse the district court's order.
Plaintiff's petition claimed that he was entitled to continuing workers' compensation benefits as a result of industrial injuries sustained in the course of his employment with Cresline Plastic Pipe Company. He alleged that the defendant "delayed and then terminated [his] workers' compensation weekly benefits and medical benefits, arbitrarily and capriciously, without notice and in bad faith." He further claimed that as a consequence of the acts and omissions of Cresline's insurance carrier, American, his original injuries were aggravated. He sought recovery of compensatory damages, including consequential damages for aggravated injuries, punitive damages, and attorney fees.
The district court granted American's motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. It concluded that the relationship between an injured employee and the employer's workers' compensation carrier is not analogous to those first-party insurance claims for which this court in Dolan v. AID Insurance Co., 431 N.W.2d 790 (Iowa 1988), recognized tort liability for bad faith. The court determined that the relationship between a workers' compensation claimant and the employer's insurer is more analogous to the relationship between a tort victim and the tortfeasor's liability insurer. This court has refused to recognize bad-faith tort liability on the part of the liability insurer in the latter situation. See Long v. McAllister, 319 N.W.2d 256, 262 (Iowa 1982).
The district court also concluded that the presence of a statutory remedy for unreasonably delayed or terminated workers' compensation benefits in Iowa Code section 86.13 (1991) militates against recognition of a common-law tort remedy. As might be expected, American urges on appeal that the reasons given by the district court for dismissing the petition provide an adequate basis on which to sustain that ruling. Plaintiff, on the other hand, urges that none of those reasons were sufficient to warrant dismissal of his claim on the pleadings.
In Long, we refused to recognize a victim's bad-faith tort claim against the tortfeasor's insurer even though we acknowledge
Page 743
that tort victims are technically third-party beneficiaries of the tortfeasor's insurance. We based our holding in Long on the fact that[t]he insurer has a fiduciary duty to the insured but an adversary relationship with the victim. The effect of the policy is to align the insurer's interests with those of the insured. In meeting its duty to the insured, the insurer must give as much consideration to the insured's interests as it does to its own.
Id. at 262. In...
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Jackson v. Travelers Ins. Co., No. 4-98-CV-90151.
...bad faith tort claim can be brought against a workers' compensation insurance carrier. See Boylan v. American Motorists Ins. Co., 489 N.W.2d 742, 744 (Iowa 1992) (stating that penalty provisions of § 86.13 of Iowa Workers' Compensation Act not intended as sole remedy for all wrongful There ......
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Kuykendall v. Gulfstream Aerospace Tech., No. 97,036.
...at 867, supra; Southern Farm Bureau Cas. Ins. Co., v. Holland, 469 So.2d 55, 58 (Miss.1984). 49. Boylan v. American Motorists Ins. Co., 489 N.W.2d 742, 744 (Iowa 1992); Southern Farm Bureau Cas. Ins. Co. v. Holland, see note 48, supra; Hayes v. Aetna Fire Underwriters, see note 33 at 261, 5......
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Reedy v. White Consol. Industries, Inc., No. C 91-3026.
...Brown v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., 513 N.W.2d 762 (Iowa 1994)); White, 514 N.W.2d at 77 (citing Boylan v. American Motorists Ins. Co., 489 N.W.2d 742, 744 (Iowa 1992)); Brown v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., 513 N.W.2d 762, 764 (Iowa 1994); Boylan v. American Motorists Ins. Co., 489 N.W.2d 742, 7......
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Hanna v. Fleetguard, Inc., No. C 95-3020.
...Brown v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 513 N.W.2d 762, 763 (Iowa 1994)); White, 514 N.W.2d at 77 (citing Boylan v. American Motorists Ins. Co., 489 N.W.2d 742, 744 (Iowa 1992)); Brown, 513 N.W.2d at 764; Boylan, 489 N.W.2d at 744. The court in Boylan concluded that section 85.27 of the Iowa Code i......
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Jackson v. Travelers Ins. Co., No. 4-98-CV-90151.
...bad faith tort claim can be brought against a workers' compensation insurance carrier. See Boylan v. American Motorists Ins. Co., 489 N.W.2d 742, 744 (Iowa 1992) (stating that penalty provisions of § 86.13 of Iowa Workers' Compensation Act not intended as sole remedy for all wrongful There ......
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Kuykendall v. Gulfstream Aerospace Tech., No. 97,036.
...at 867, supra; Southern Farm Bureau Cas. Ins. Co., v. Holland, 469 So.2d 55, 58 (Miss.1984). 49. Boylan v. American Motorists Ins. Co., 489 N.W.2d 742, 744 (Iowa 1992); Southern Farm Bureau Cas. Ins. Co. v. Holland, see note 48, supra; Hayes v. Aetna Fire Underwriters, see note 33 at 261, 5......
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Reedy v. White Consol. Industries, Inc., No. C 91-3026.
...Brown v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., 513 N.W.2d 762 (Iowa 1994)); White, 514 N.W.2d at 77 (citing Boylan v. American Motorists Ins. Co., 489 N.W.2d 742, 744 (Iowa 1992)); Brown v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., 513 N.W.2d 762, 764 (Iowa 1994); Boylan v. American Motorists Ins. Co., 489 N.W.2d 742, 7......
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Hanna v. Fleetguard, Inc., No. C 95-3020.
...Brown v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 513 N.W.2d 762, 763 (Iowa 1994)); White, 514 N.W.2d at 77 (citing Boylan v. American Motorists Ins. Co., 489 N.W.2d 742, 744 (Iowa 1992)); Brown, 513 N.W.2d at 764; Boylan, 489 N.W.2d at 744. The court in Boylan concluded that section 85.27 of the Iowa Code i......