Hough v. Pacific Ins. Co., Ltd.

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that insurer owed contractual duties to employer's employee as intended third-party beneficiary of employer's workers compensation policy
• concluding that “emotional and physical suffering allegedly caused by an insurer’s [denial of medical benefits]” does not arise out of the course of employment and is not covered by WCL
• holding that plaintiff could bring a separate claim for damages against a workers’ compensation insurer where the separate claim was based on allegations that the insurer committed intentional torts and acted in bad faith in processing the worker’s compensation claim
• “[I]n interpreting a statute, we give words their common meaning, unless there is something in the statute requiring a different meaning.”
• insurer owes duty to employee to handle and pay claims in good faith
• “an employee is not merely a potential claimant in relation to his or her employer’s workers’ compensation insurance contract. An employee is an intended third-party beneficiary of an employer’s contract with an insurance company for workers’ compensation coverage.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).