No. 33091
Daniel S. Strahin v. Earl Sullivan and Farmers & Mechanics Mutual
Insurance Company
Benjamin, Justice, concurring:
In order to establish a claim pursuant to
Shamblin v. Nationwide Mutual
Insurance Company, 183 W. Va. 585, 396 S.E.2d 766 (1990), an insured must be exposed
to personal liability for a jury verdict in excess of his or her liability insurance policy limits
due to the insurer's unreasonable failure to settle within policy limits prior to the rendering
of a jury's verdict. By extinguishing an insured's potential personal liability for an excess
verdict prior to the rendering of such a verdict, the parties also extinguish any
Shamblin claim which may have potentially existed. It is just that simple.