Case Citator › Ellwein v. Hartford Acc. and Indem. Co.

Ellwein v. Hartford Acc. and Indem. Co.

Is it still good law? What later courts have actually done to this case.

Overruled in part
Court
Supreme Court of Washington
Citation
15 P.3d 640
Decided
Confirmed treatments
1
Flagged citations read
34 of 34
Citing cases (total)
34
Treatment dates
2003
Overruled in part
A reviewed court has overruled part of this case’s holding. Ellwein v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. was overruled in part on the standard for summary judgment in insurance bad faith claims. The Washington Supreme Court held in Smith v. Safeco Insurance Co. that an insurer's theoretical reasonable basis does not automatically defeat a bad faith claim.
More on how this was screened

Ellwein's separate rules governing the relationship between a UIM insurer and its insured continue to be applied. All 34 flagged citations have been read; the confirmed treatment is listed below.

Every treatment on this page is written from the citing opinion itself, with a verbatim quote, never copied from a commercial citator. A citation flagged by our screen but not shown here was read and found not to weaken this case.

34 later cases cite Ellwein v. Hartford Acc. and Indem. Co.; 34 of those citations sat close to treatment language and were flagged for reading, and all of them have been read. Citations that did not sit near treatment language were not flagged and were not read one by one, so a court that weakened this case without using any of that language would not appear here.

Relying on Ellwein v. Hartford Acc. and Indem. Co.?

This page shows what later courts did to it. Ask about your specific facts and see whether it still carries your argument, with citations you can check.

Treatments

Overruled in part

  • The Washington Supreme Court overruled Ellwein's special summary judgment standard for insurance bad faith claims to the extent it prevented an insured from contesting the insurer's asserted reasonable basis.

    Smith v. Safeco Insurance Co. · Supreme Court of Washington (en banc) · filed

    However, the existence of some theoretical reasonable basis for the insurer's conduct does not end the inquiry. The insured may present evidence that the insurer's alleged reasonable basis was not the actual basis for its action, or that other factors outweighed the alleged reasonable basis. To the extent that Ellwein is inconsistent with these principles, it is overruled.
    Read the full opinion on CourtListener →

Does this case still carry your argument?

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