Behnke

This breach of contract, insurance bad faith, and fraud action brought by plaintiff Michael C. Behnke against his residential property insurer—defendant State Farm General Insurance Company (State Farm)— arose from an attorney fees dispute between State Farm and the law firm of English & Gloven, which Behnke had selected as his independent Cumis counsel 1 to defend him against a third party lawsuit. In his fee agreement with English & Gloven, Behnke agreed to be personally liable for the firm’s fees in tire event State Farm failed to make full and timely payments. After objecting that English & Gloven’s fees were excessive and attempting to replace the firm as Behnke’s independent counsel, State Farm allowed *1447 English & Gloven to continue representing Behnke and allegedly promised at a January 2004 meeting to pay all of English & Gloven’s fees that State Farm had not paid as of the time of the meeting. State Farm eventually paid $50,000 to settle the underlying lawsuit against Behnke. By that time, English & Gloven had billed State Farm a total of about $199,000 in fees and costs. The attorney fees dispute arose when State Farm paid $140,000 to English & Gloven but…