Amber Ferrante v. Allstate Property & Casualty Insurance Co. (2011)

ORDER RE REQUEST TO REVISE (NO. 147) AND OBJECTION (NO. 148)

The plaintiff, Amber Ferrante, brings this action against the defendant, Allstate Property & Casualty Insurance Company.   The plaintiff's original complaint was filed on April 5, 2010.   The plaintiff, however, has amended her complaint several times.   The operative five-count complaint was filed on March 29, 2011.   The plaintiff's claims result from her attempt to obtain underinsured motorist coverage from the defendant and specifically, she alleges the defendant is liable to her for:  (1) breach of contract;  (2) breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing;  (3) violation of Connecticut Unfair Insurance Practices Act (CUIPA);  (4) violation of Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA);  and (5) breach of its express or implied representations to investigate and process her claims in good faith.

Before the court is the defendant's April 13, 2011 request to revise the operative complaint.  Practice Book § 10–35 provides:  “Whenever any party desires to obtain (1) a more complete or particular statement of the allegations of an adverse party's pleading, or (2) the deletion of any unnecessary, repetitious, scandalous, impertinent, immaterial or otherwise improper allegations in an adverse party's pleading, or (3) separation of causes of action which may be united in one complaint when they are improperly combined in one count, or the separation of two or more grounds improperly combined in one defense, or (4) any other appropriate correction in an adverse party's pleading, the party desiring such amendment in an adverse party's pleading may file a timely request to revise that pleading.”   The defendant requests two revisions:  (1) deletion of paragraph eleven of count two, which alleges breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing;  and (2) deletion of paragraph four of count three, which alleges violation of CUIPA.   The plaintiff filed her objection to this request on May 12, 2011.

Paragraph eleven of count two alleges:  “Additional evidence of Defendant's general business practice in committing bad faith from cases containing bad faith counts comes from the following cases, inter alia:  Blayman v. Allstate Ins. Co., 2011 WL 383860, 5, Superior Court, Judicial District of New London, Docket No. CV 10 6005268 (January 6, 2011, Cosgrove, J);  Fiallo v. Allstate Insurance Company, CV 08 5016344S;  Walker v. Allstate, 2000 WL 726356 (Conn.Super.Ct., May 16, 2000);  Rader v. Allstate Insurance Company, CV 09 5012822 S;  Smith v. Allstate, KNL–CV–09–5011424–S;  Betances v. Allstate Ins. Co., CV–07–6000516–S, Deak v. Allstate Ins., CV–04–4002059–S, Fowler v. Allstate Property & Casualty Ins. Co., CV–08–5016911–S;  Gonzalez v. Allstate Ins. Co., CV–06–5004078–S;  Maire v. Allstate Ins. Co., CV–95–050550–S;  Michalek v. Allstate Ins. Co., CV–07–5008280–S;  Stevens v. Allstate Ins. Co., CV–00–071957–S;  Sullivan v. Allstate Ins. Co., CV–05–4008548–S;  Walsh v. Allstate Ins. Co., CV–02–0080039–S;  Allessa v. Allstate Ins. Co., CV–95–05–05–50;  Serrano v. Allstate Ins. Co., CV–96–033–66–91;  Beckstein v. Allstate Ins. Co., CV–10–6005267–S.”   Paragraph four of count three alleges:  “Additional evidence of Defendant's general business practice comes from the following cases ․” and contains an identical string citation.

The court grants the defendant's request for deletion of these paragraphs.   The plaintiff's string citation merely stands for the proposition that the defendant has been sued for unfair settlement practices.   Without more, this represents only a legal conclusion and does not constitute proper fact pleading as required by Practice Book § 10–1, which states:  “Each pleading shall contain a plain and concise statement of the material facts on which the pleader relies, but not of the evidence by which they are to be proved ․” As a result, the defendant's request to revise (# 147) is hereby granted and the plaintiff's objection (# 148) is overruled.

Cosgrove, J.

Cosgrove, Emmet L., J.