Fontaine

MEMORANDUM *

Plaintiff Ruth Fontaine, M.D. (“Fontaine”) appeals the district court’s grant of partial summary judgment with respect to her claims for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing (bad faith) and punitive damages. We reverse the grant of summary judgment on the bad faith claim and affirm the grant of summary judgment on the punitive damages claim.

Fontaine began working in private practice as an anesthesiologist in California in 1987. In 1990, she obtained a disability policy from defendants Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia and Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company (“Provident”). The policy included coverage for “Total Disability,” which occurs when, as a result of sickness or injury, the insured is unable to perform the material and substantial duties of the insured’s regular occupation (i.e., anesthesiology).

After a few years of practice, Fontaine began to suffer from alcoholism, insomnia, anorexia and hypotension, and on two occasions, she attempted to commit suicide at work by inhaling anesthetics. In 1992, Howard Steven Shapiro, M.D., diagnosed Fontaine as suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with…