Discovery in Bad Faith Insurance Litigation: Key to Successfully Proving or Defending Claims Jun-2015

Many bad faith suits are won or lost during discovery. Plaintiff's counsel must identify conduct giving rise to a bad faith claim and obtain all sources of documentation and testimony supporting that claim. Defense counsel must limit the scope of the plaintiff's discovery and effectively manage document production.

Expert witnesses may be a viable option for a plaintiff to prove bad faith claims, and defense counsel must be prepared to challenge the plaintiff's witness testimony. Both sides must be prepared to address discoverability of information needed to support or defend punitive damages claims.

Bad faith claims may include battles over whether the work-product doctrine protects certain materials. Unique attorney-client privilege issues also arise, such as the joint client exception to the privilege and implied waivers of the privilege.

Listen as our authoritative panelists provide their perspectives on the evolving state of the law and effective strategies for obtaining or defending discovery in bad faith insurance claims. The panel will discuss particular lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina litigation, among others.