Textron Financial Corp. v. National Union Fire Insurance

This is our third review of the present case. Plaintiff Textron Financial Corporation sued defendant National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and others for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and fraud arising from defendant’s refusal to honor a claim for insurance benefits concerning property damage to a commercial bus in which plaintiff held a security interest. The jury returned a verdict awarding plaintiff $165,414.40 in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages, but in postjudgment proceedings the trial court remitted the latter award to $1.7 million.

Both plaintiff and defendant appealed. In a January 2001 unpublished opinion, we affirmed the judgment and postjudgment orders in their entirety. Our first opinion rejected plaintiff’s attacks on a pretrial order striking a cause of action for unfair business practices, the portion of the judgment in favor of defendant’s claims adjuster, the amount of compensatory damages awarded on the insurance bad faith claim, plus the postjudgment orders awarding costs to the claims adjuster and denying its request for expert witness fees. We…