Welle v. Provident Life & Accident Ins. Co.

An OB/GYN retained Michael Horrow to represent her in an insurance bad-faith lawsuit in federal court to challenge Provident’s denial of her claim for long-term disability benefits. As part of her bad-faith claim, Mr. Horrow served a discovery request on Provident asking it to provide information about the bonus awards and performance ratings for the employees who denied Welle’s claim. The insurer refused to provide this information, claiming that the request was improper for various reasons. Mr. Horrow challenged this position and the federal court ruled that Provident was obligated to provide the information he had requested, which the court found was relevant to the bad-faith claim and not unduly burdensome or overbroad.