Keith Belt Jr. Featured in Bar Publication

What should plaintiffs’ lawyers do when an insurer fails to settle a tort action after a jury enters a verdict in excess of the insurer’s policy limits?

That’s a question we’ve addressed at length in a scholarly article recently published in a legal publication.

The article, titled “An Excess Judgment Case: Tort Claims Against a Liability Insurer for Wrongfully Failing To Settle,” appeared in the Spring 2015 Journal of the Alabama Association for Justice.

The article by our attorney Keith T. Belt Jr. discussed the tort of the negligent failure to settle. We argue this is one of the most powerful weapons in trial lawyers’ arsenal.

“First, the mere threat of these torts can create enormous settlement leverage to help the practitioner negotiate a favorable settlement,” the article states. “Second, the torts provide the insured with a remedy that will allow him to recover the amount of the excess verdict and recover his own damages for mental anguish and possibly punitive damages.”

You can read the full article in the Journal, or click here to see a PDF of the article on our website.