Defendant’s motion to dismiss granted with respect to plaintiff’s claims for violation of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, negligence and vicarious liability

This case dealt with the defendant’s motion to dismiss four counts of the plaintiff’s complaint. The plaintiff had been involved in a motor vehicle accident with an uninsured motorist. Subsequently, the plaintiff made a claim for UM benefits with his insurer, State Farm. The plaintiff underwent an independent medical exam, and the parties attempted to settle the UM claim. When settlement discussions were unsuccessful, the plaintiff filed suit. With respect to the plaintiff’s claim for violation of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, the court held that there is no such independent cause of action in Pennsylvania. That count was, therefore, dismissed. The court likewise dismissed the plaintiff’s negligence claim on the basis that the gist of the action doctrine applied. The negligence claim was wholly dependent upon the terms of the contract and was, therefore, subsumed into the breach of contract count. Finally, the court dismissed the plaintiff’s count for vicarious liability since the defendant, as the only defendant in the case, could not be vicariously liable for its own conduct.

_{Case Law Alerts, 3rd Quarter, July 2015}

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