The defendant issued an auto policy having $20,000 liability limits. After the insured was involved in an accident, the carrier defended her. Plaintiff’s counsel made a settlement demand for the $20,000 policy limit which was rejected. A jury subsequently found the insured 60% at fault and plaintiff 40% at fault awarding a net verdict of $47,951.15. The insured assigned her rights under the policy to plain- tiff. Plaintiff then filed the present case and alleged in the complaint that there was a workers’ compen- sation lien of $74,000 with medi- cal expenses in excess of $23,000 that created the probability that there would be a verdict in excess of the policy limits. The trial court disagreed noting the carrier could have felt it had an excellent chance of winning the underlying case and dismissed the bad faith case.

The First District affirmed. In order to state a cause of action for bad faith, plaintiff must allege facts es- tablishing a reasonable probability of an excess verdict as opposed to a mere possibility. The fact that an insurance company was unsuccessful in a trial does not establish its defense was made in bad faith. Powell v. American Service Ins. Co., 2014 IL App (1st) 123643.