Michael E. Stubblefield

“ I do not think an insured's filing suit can be fairly characterized, as the majority has suggested, as sufficient provocation of an insurer to shield the insurer from being found guilty of engaging in bad faith. Adversarial relationships are often spawned by the passage of time and what appears on the surface to be slight resistance. It is possible, rather, that Farm Bureau's personnel, perhaps all the while smiling, consoling, and reassuring their policyholder of their personal regrets, were acting in bad faith. ”

“ If we accept the proposition that an insurance company's disparate treatment of a policyholder in denying coverage may be shown to be oppressive or dishonest conduct rising to the level of bad faith, then a policyholder who has reason to suspect that he may have been treated disparately from other policyholders should be allowed reasonable access to defense documents which may show that his suspicions are accurate (or inaccurate) . ”

“ The majority opinion condones that ruling as fair application of discovery rules and caselaw, but I agree with Justice Brown's cogent analysis of the discovery issue in his dissent. Especially telling is his point that " [t] he essence of litigation is proof – not representations by an adversary of what should have been done." ”