Pennsylvania bad-faith lawyers are all too familiar with the tortured history and anticlimactic outcome of the Berg v. Nationwide case. In part because of the issues before the court and in part because the Pennsylvania Supreme Court did not reach a majority disposition, Pennsylvania’s highest court did not issue a binding, precedential decision in Berg—leaving for another day the question of an insurance company’s duties when repairing a vehicle damaged in an accident. Since Berg, courts continue to wrestle with bad-faith claims related to the repair process.

Berg arose from a 1996 car accident that caused damage to the insured’s leased Jeep Grand Cherokee. 235 A.3d 1223 (Pa. 2020). The insurance company determined that the vehicle was repairable rather than a total loss and paid approximately $12,000 to repair the Jeep through its own direct repair program. The insured alleged that the Jeep was beyond repair and that the insurance company knew that the Jeep was returned to him in an unsafe and uncrashworthy condition. The case went to trial in December 2004. The jury found that the insurance company violated the Unfair Insurance Practices and Consumer Protection Law and awarded Berg $295.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]