Simone

INTRODUCTION

Elijah Simone suffered catastrophic injuries when Bruce Jameson hit him with a car while Simone was riding his bicycle home from work. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm) insured Jameson under an automobile policy with a per person liability limit of $25,000. Simone’s and State Farm’s attempts at settlement were unsuccessful. Simone sued Jameson and obtained a judgment in his favor that exceeded $10 million. After he was assigned Jameson’s rights against State Farm, Simone sued State Farm for breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing based on State Farm’s failure to settle within policy limits. The trial court, sitting as the finder of fact, found Simone

2 made a reasonable settlement offer for policy limits and that State Farm unreasonably rejected it. The court entered a judgment totaling $11,602,322.80 against State Farm, comprised of the underlying award of $10,917,481, plus attorney fees as damages in the amount of $684,841.75. The judgment also provided for accrued interest, stipulated to be $4,345,336 to the beginning of the trial against State Farm and then continuing at a rate of $2,991.09…