At the trial court level, both insurers moved to halt bad faith and IFCA claims until the UIM coverage disputes were resolved, relying on well-established New Jersey precedent that treats a finding of bad faith as premature while the underlying claim remains unresolved. Allstate sought to dismiss the claims without prejudice pending resolution of the UIM dispute, while GEICO filed an application to sever and stay the suit. In the Allstate case, the trial court dismissed the common law bad faith claim by consent, but refused to dismiss the IFCA claim. In the GEICO case, the trial court initially granted the severance and stay application, but reversed course on reconsideration after the plaintiff argued that the court had failed to take into account the importance of the IFCA. The result in both cases was that IFCA claims were allowed to proceed with unresolved UIM disputes.
NJ court blocks IFCA pursuit against GEICO ahead of UIM settlement & more related News Here
