At the trial court level, both insurers moved to pause the bad faith and IFCA claims until the UIM coverage disputes were sorted out, relying on well-established New Jersey precedent that treats bad faith discovery as premature while the underlying claim remains unresolved. Allstate sought dismissal of the claims without prejudice pending resolution of the UIM dispute, while GEICO filed an application to sever and stay. In the Allstate matter, the trial court dismissed the common law bad faith claim by consent but denied dismissal of the IFCA claim. In the GEICO matter, the trial court initially granted the severance and stay application, but reversed course on reconsideration after the plaintiff argued the court had failed to account for the significance of the IFCA. The result, in both cases, was that the IFCA claims were allowed to proceed alongside the unresolved UIM disputes.
NJ court blocks IFCA discovery against GEICO before UIM resolution
