Summary Judgment in Class Action Lawsuit On Behalf of Large Insurer.

We obtained summary judgment in a putative class action lawsuit in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on behalf of a large insurer. The case dealt with a letter the insurance carrier would send to their insureds following a motor vehicle accident in which they advised their insureds that they would have a rental vehicle for five days. The named plaintiffs argued the letter misrepresented the policy language and they sued for breach of contract, bad faith, declaratory judgment and equitable relief. Per the insurer’s request, the court agreed to stay class action discovery so that the insurer could file a dispositive motion as to the named plaintiffs, which, if granted, would dispose of the entire putative class action case. In its motion for summary judgment, the insurer argued that the named plaintiffs could not meet their individual burdens of proof since it was undisputed they had a rental vehicle for 23 days and had returned the rental the same day they picked up their newly purchased vehicle. The court agreed and granted the insurer’s motion for summary judgment in its entirety and dismissed the action. The court reasoned, in part, that the named plaintiffs’ alleged damages were speculative and that issuance of the rental letter did not constitute a breach of the policy since the plaintiffs could not show that they were not afforded benefits to which they were entitled.