Kari Callaway, Individually, and as Personal Representative of the Estate of Ernest Carl Johansen v. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company, a foreign insurance corporation

Summary

The court granted Plaintiff Kari Callaway leave to amend her complaint to add a claim under the Washington Insurance Fair Conduct Act and granted the parties’ joint motion to amend the scheduling order. The court held that the proposed claim was not shown to be futile because the record did not establish whether Liberty Mutual’s delay in paying the appraisal amount resulted from a good-faith dispute or bad faith, and it extended several case deadlines.

Holdings

1. Leave to amend should be granted because Defendant did not demonstrate bad faith, undue delay, prejudice, prior amendment, or futility sufficient to overcome Rule 15(a)(2)’s liberal amendment policy.
2. The proposed IFCA claim was not shown to be futile because the record did not conclusively establish either that the delay resulted from a good-faith valuation dispute or that Plaintiff could not prove bad faith and recover actual damages.
3. The parties’ Joint Motion to Amend Scheduling Order was granted, extending the specified discovery, dispositive-motion, mediation, pretrial, and trial-related deadlines.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Plaintiff should be granted leave under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a)(2) to amend the complaint to add a Washington Insurance Fair Conduct Act claim.
2. Whether the proposed IFCA claim was futile because the alleged delay arose from a valuation dispute and Liberty Mutual later paid the appraisal amount.
3. Whether the parties’ scheduling order should be amended to extend discovery, motion, mediation, pretrial, and trial deadlines.

Disposition

other