Moody v. Oregon Community Credit Union

Moody appealed a judgment to dismiss a negligence per se claim. Oregon Community Credit Union (OCCU) contracted to provide life insurance to Moody's husband, Troy, who was later accidentally shot by a friend and killed on a camping trip. The policy provided that if Troy suffered an accidental loss of life, OCCU would pay Moody $3,000 but OCCU did not apply the provision on the basis that Troy was intoxicated at the time of his death. Although a party to a contract may only bring a breach of contract claim, an exception applies when the tort claim is predicated on a violation of a standard of care that exists independent of the contract.  See Georgetown Realty v. The Home Ins. Co., 313 Or 97, 106 (1992). The court held that under the principles of common law, Moody's complaint satisfied pleading each of the four requirements for negligence per se under the statutory requirement of ORS 746.230(1), which prohibits insurers from unfair claim settlement practices, and specifically provisions (d) and (f) of the statute, by failing to pay her claim without conducting a reasonable investigation and failing to settle in good faith after liability became reasonably clear. Therefore, the Court of Appeals held that the legislative intent was to protect policyholders from "being forced to experience the stress of dealing with unfair insurance claim settlement practices," and Moody was entitled to bring a negligence per se claim against OCCU.  Reversed and remanded.