Trujillo

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment dismissing his action against an insurer for bad faith after sustaining a demurrer to the original complaint without leave to amend. We agree that the complaint was clearly demurrable, but cannot say that plaintiff could not, if given the opportunity, supply the allegation necessary to state a cause of action.

Plaintiff claims to have suffered damages in an automobile collision with a driver insured by defendant. He contends that the insurer was guilty of bad faith in insisting on an unduly low settlement figure.

In the case at bench, the parties stipulated that the trial court could take judicial notice of the superior court file in the underlying action against the driver. As did the trial court, we treat the case at bench as though that file had been incorporated in the complaint. So treated, the allegations before us are: the collision; the insurance by defendant; the arbitration and award in favor of other persons suffering damages in the accident in amounts substantially higher than the settlement with plaintiff; the insurer’s offer to plaintiff of $9,000; plaintiff’s request for a $1,300 advance “to enable him to prosecute the…