# National Sav. Life Ins. Co. v. Dutton

> Supreme Court of Alabama · September 17, 1982 · 419 So. 2d 1357

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9937959

## Case

- **Full name:** National Savings Life Insurance Company, a Corporation v. Eula Dutton.
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Alabama
- **Decided:** September 17, 1982
- **Citations:** 419 So. 2d 1357; 1982 Ala. LEXIS 3401
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Embry
- **Judges:** Embry, Jones, Shores
- **Cited by:** 149 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9937959

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- finding that to make out a prima facie case of bad faith, the evidence must show that the plaintiff is entitled to a directed verdict on the contract claim, and therefore is entitled to recover on the contract claim as a matter of law
- explaining that in order to establish a prima facie case of bad faith, the plaintiff must proffer sufficient evidence demonstrating that the plaintiff is entitled to a directed verdict on the contract claim
- holding that “an insurance contract between the parties and a breach thereof by the defendant” is an element of a “bad faith refusal” claim

## Opinion text

I am in complete agreement with the result the opinion of the majority dictates. However, it seems to me the course of this case through the trial court demonstrates the need for the safeguards suggested in my dissent in Vincent v. Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Alabama, Inc. , 373 So.2d 1054 , 1067 , 1068
(Ala. 1979). My views, regarding the safeguards necessitated by the nature of these cases, were repeated in my dissent in Chavers v. National Security Fire Casualty Co. , 405 So.2d 1 , 16 , 17 (Ala. 1981), and in my special concurrence in Aspinwall v. Gowens , on rehearing, 405 So.2d 135, 139 .

---

Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9937959. Public record. Not legal advice.