Life & Cas. Ins. Co. of Tenn. v. Bristow

How courts have described this case

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

• to recover punitive damages, insurer must lack an arguable reason for denying benefits, and insured must show malice, gross negligence, or wanton disregard of the rights of the insured
• “Even if [the insurer did not have a reasonably arguable basis for denying the insured’s claim, the insured] must clear the second part of the two-part test — he must make a showing of malice, gross negligence, or wanton disregard_”
• “The wrong complained of must not be an ordinary tort such as could be the produce of forgetfulness, oversight or the like, but must be more in the nature of heightened tort evincing gross, callous or wanton conduct, or . . . accompanied by fraud or deceit.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).