Georgia Supreme Court Rejects Assertion That Third-Party Bad Faith Can Be Created Without a Valid Settlement Offer
Until recently, the question of when an insurer’s duty to settle arose under Georgia law was up for debate. See U.S. Kingsley v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 353 F.Supp.2d 1242, 1249 (N. D. Ga. Jan. 31, 2005) (recognizing that Georgia law “is unsettled whether a plaintiff must make a policy-limits demand for an insurer to be held liable for a tortious refusal to settle.”). A recent decision from the Georgia Supreme Court resolved much of that uncertainty.