John Randall Coates v. Progressive Direct Insurance Company

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma insurance law lawyers represent Plaintiff, who sued Defendant on breach of contract and breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing theories.



"John Randall Coates (Plaintiff/Appellant and Counter-Appellee) brought an action for breach of contract and breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing against Progressive Direct Insurance Company (Defendant/Appellee and Counter-Appellant). A motorcycle collision in which motorcyclist Coates was injured is the basis of the actions. Coates was insured by Progressive under a motorcycle policy, an auto policy, and a policy providing UM coverage. Coates moved for partial summary judgment regarding his entitlement to uninsured/underinsured motorist benefits. Progressive moved for summary judgment regarding Coates' bad faith claim. Coates sought more time to conduct discovery to address Progressive's counterclaim on bad faith. The trial court granted Coates' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, allowing his UM claim against Progressive. The trial court also granted Progressive's Motion for Summary Judgment, denying Coates' claim for breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing. The trial court denied Coates' Motion for Additional Time to Respond. We retained the appeal. We affirm the District Court's decision granting Coates' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on the UM claim. We reverse the decisions granting Progressive's Motion for Summary Judgment and denying Coates additional time to respond to that motion."

This case presents two questions: (1) is Appellee Progressive Direct Insurance Company required to pay Appellant Coates uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM) benefits, and (2) did Appellee breach a duty of good faith and fair dealing in refusing Coates' claim. We answer the first question "yes". We reverse the trial court's order denying time for discovery on the second question, and leave the initial resolution of that question to the trial court.