holding that insurers do not owe third party claimants statutory first party duties, such as good faith and fair dealing, under the insurance code or for insurance based DTPA actions
How later courts described this case
- holding that insurers do not owe third party claimants statutory first party duties, such as good faith and fair dealing, under the insurance code or for insurance based DTPA actions
- holding that third parties who assert claims based on liability of insured, but are not named as additional insured, do not have direct cause of action against insurers
- holding that an insurer owes no duty of good faith to third-party claimants under the Insurance Code, without reaching the question of a possible common-law duty
- finding that insurers cannot have duties to non-insureds in claims handling because “insur- ers would be faced with owing coextensive and conflicting duties”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
SPECTOR, Justice,
concurring.
Nov. 24, 1993
I concur in the Court’s judgment, but not its opinion. I would hold that a third-party *151 claimant may proceed directly against an insurer once the claimant has established that the insured has a legal obligation to pay damages to the claimant. See State Farm County Mut. Ins. Co. v. Ollis, 768 S.W.2d 722, 723 (Tex.1989); Great American Ins. Co. v. Murray, 437 S.W.2d 264, 265 (Tex.1969). Once Kathleen Watson has obtained a judgment or settlement against the insured, she is entitled to recover for any damages she has sustained as a result of Allstate’s unfair or unlawful acts or practices. Tex.Ins. Code art. 21.21, § 16(a).