Stanford
Stanford v. General Insurance Company of America
Opinion
Trial Court Opinion
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
ATHENA STANFORD, Case No. 20-cv-06382-VC
Plaintiff,
ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND
v. DENYING IN PART DEFENDANT'S
MOTION TO DISMISS
GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF
AMERICA, Re: Dkt. No. 28 Defendant.
General Insurance’s motion to dismiss is granted in part and denied in part. With respect to the claims that are dismissed, Stanford is granted leave to amend only the intentional infliction of emotional distress claim. 1. Stanford’s claims for negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress are dismissed with prejudice. The negligence claim is barred by the economic loss rule, which, broadly speaking, prevents a plaintiff whose action stems from a breach of contract from recovering tort damages in addition to contract damages. See Robinson Helicopter Co., Inc. v. Dana Corp., 34 Cal. 4th 979, 988-89 (2004). In the insurance context, plaintiffs can recover tort damages for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing in addition to contract damages for breach of the insurance contract. Id. at 989-990. A plaintiff claiming that an…