Michelle Brown, Plaintiff Below, Appellant v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, Defendant Below, Appellee

Summary

The court affirmed judgment as a matter of law for Liberty Mutual because the principal evidence supporting Brown’s bad-faith claim was inadmissible hearsay and the remaining admissible evidence did not permit a reasonable jury to find that Liberty Mutual knew pre-authorization was required or that it unjustifiably denied payment. The court held that the medical-record notation was not admissible under the business-record, medical-treatment, residual, routine-practice, or proposed nonhearsay theories. The court did not decide whether denying pre-approval could breach the implied covenant when pre-approval is not required by the insurance contract. No separate opinions were issued.