Denial for Fraud Not Bad Faith But Contract Claim Remains

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Tammy Lou Hope appealed the trial court’s order granting Defendant Integon National Insurance Company summary judgment on her claims in Tammy Lou Hope v. Integon National Insurance Company, No. COA20-265, Court Of Appeals Of North Carolina (December 31, 2020).

ZALMA OPINION

When investigation by a professional claims person or Special Investigative Unit investigator determines the evidence establishes that the vehicle was destroyed by the insured running it into a stationary object and not by an unidentified hit and run vehicle there is a genuine dispute between insured and insurer. At trial the insurer will present its expert testimony and will either establish an insured against cause or that the claim presented was a fraud. Regardless, a good faith statement of decision, a disputed set of facts, is not sufficient to even consider a tort of bad faith or unfair trade practices and the court agreed.